Alaska News

Mat-Su School Board votes to privatize custodial jobs

PALMER — NANA Management Services will clean Mat-Su schools next year, thanks to a vote of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board Wednesday night.

The board voted 4-3 to outsource custodial services and award NANA a three-year contract worth $4.4 million annually.

The move will save $1.6 million and will help close the $5.8 million deficit the district projects for fiscal year 2007, School District officials say. But outsourcing will force more than a third of the current custodial staff to take pay cuts or look for work elsewhere, some custodians say.

Close to 300 people gathered in and around the School Board chambers at Palmer High to hear the board decision. Another 150 or so listened via speakers downstairs in the library, said Ron Rucker, Classified Employees Association president.

Outsourcing garnered overwhelming public opposition in the past month. More than 700 people, including custodians, teachers, principals and community members, attended the Feb. 15 School Board meeting in the Palmer gymnasium. About 650 people at that meeting signed slips of paper, displayed on a wall on one end of the gym, to show their support for the current custodial system.

In all, the board heard more than three hours of public testimony against outsourcing. Many urged the School Board to lobby the borough Assembly and the state for more money instead.

"With a $1.2 billion surplus in their budget, (the state) should be able to do more for us," said Wasilla resident Anne Kilkenny.

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Some School Board members, though, argued for sustainable fixes. Even with more funding, they said, the district would continue to lose money under the current custodial system because of the rising costs of health insurance and retirement benefits.

"I certainly don't have any qualms with the level of (custodial) service we have now or the individuals that are doing it," said board member Larry DeVilbiss. But outsourcing gives the district a "budgeting tool that's fixed and more stable."

While only two people testified in support of privatizing custodial services, board members Dan Contini, Cheryl Turner and Pat Purcell — who each voted to approve outsourcing — said they'd received numerous phone calls and e-mails from other proponents.

Contini said he didn't like the tone of many who testified Wednesday. Some accused the School District of targeting classified employees for most budget cuts, and one threatened to rally union workers Valley-wide to oust School Board members in future elections.

"At 5:25 p.m., I made up my mind how I was going to vote. You didn't change my mind tonight; you only made it worse," Contini said.

Board members Linda Menard and Robert Wells, along with Board President Sarah Welton, voted against outsourcing. Welton echoed many who testified that custodians are more than housekeepers: They are mentors and role models for children and vital to the overall success of schools. Custodians under NANA, they argued, might not make those emotional connections.

"Yes, we're saving money. What do we value? Do we value education in all of its areas or are we only valuing schooling?" Welton said. The difference, she said, is that education considers a child's total wellbeing, not just rote memorization of academic facts.

And while the School District is saving money, many custodians are losing out, opponents said. More than a third of the 112 custodians face pay cuts as deep as $10 an hour, said Rucker.

Custodian Mike Gorup of Sherrod Elementary School has been with the School District for 22 years and currently earns more than $24 an hour, a full $10 an hour more than he'd make with NANA.

Gorup's wife, Teresa, has been a custodian with the district for 18 years, he said. She'd lose $6 an hour.

"This is devastating. Me and my wife both lost our jobs. We can't afford (to work for NANA)," Gorup said. "I have to sell my house as it is."

Michael Torborg, a custodian at Colony High School, says he's not sure whether he'll work for NANA. He's been with the School District since 1999. He stands to lose as much as

$7 an hour.

"I'm a single parent of two. That's a big cut," Torborg said.

Darin Hargraves, NANA area manager for Mat-Su, said the company would retain as many custodians as possible. Though some might face pay cuts now, he said, NANA offers opportunities for advancement within both the custodial ranks in Mat-Su and NANA's statewide and national corporate ranks.

NANA's contract will take affect

July 1. Hargraves said the company would begin meeting with custodians and school administrators within the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition.

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Contact reporter Becky Stoppa at bstoppa@adn.com or (907) 376-0756.

By BECKY STOPPA

Anchorage Daily News

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