District 202 Holds Public Hearing on Custodial Outsourcing

The Plainfield Board of Education held a public hearing Monday evening regarding the possible outsourcing of Plainfield Association of Support Staff custodians.

While no decision was made whether to outsource, the board heard a presentation from Mark Michaels, a retired UniServ Director, who conducted an analysis of the bids received for cleaning services from ABM, Aramark and GCA.

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The methodology focused on the first year bid, which included six bidding options.

Michaels concluded that the district’s cost with in-house custodians would likely be considerably less than if the the district accepted any of the bids.

He also gave the board three options to consider:

1. Outsource custodial work, which would cost the district money and could also result in litigation because “this is a question whether the bids, the bidding process and the district’s cost comparisons comply with the School Code.”
2. The district could rebid the contract in accordance with School Code, “but based on the study, it is highly likely that the resulting bids will exceed the costs of retaining the custodial work in-house.”
3. The district could maintain its in-house custodial staff and work with PASS to identify cost-saving strategies.

Plainfield Board President Michelle Smith said in a statement that the board notified PASS that it was considering outsourcing on Feb. 11 and invited PASS to begin bargaining as soon as possible.

“Despite that invitation, PASS was not available to begin bargaining until March 22, 2016 - six weeks later,” Smith said.

Between Feb. 11 and March 22, Smith said PASS sent out brochures, picketed board meetings and rallied support against outsourcing.

“PASS did not, however, use this time to develop a proposal to avoid outsourcing. In fact, PASS did not raise any bargaining topics related to the possible outsourcing during the first bargaining session,” Smith said, adding that PASS failed to bring a proposal related to outsourcing to the bargaining table at the second session held April 7.

Prior to a third bargaining session April 18, Superintendent Lane Abrell wrote to PASS reminding its representatives that the district has been prepared to bargain all relevant aspects of potential outsourcing with PASS since Feb. 11, according to Smith. Abrell invited and encouraged PASS to present the district with a proposal for negotiations that could lead to an agreement which avoids outsourcing.

“In response, PASS leadership finally raised the issue of outsourcing at the bargaining table. PASS did not, however, come to the table on April 18 with a proposal and denied the existence of such a proposal when asked by the board team,” Smith said.

Since PASS failed to make any independent initiative, the board bargaining team directly asked the PASS bargaining team to present a proposal that could save the district money and in turn possible avoid outsourcing, Smith said.

“After a lengthy (caucus), PASS came forward with a verbal concept recognizing the board’s right to make staffing decisions and suggesting the board not hire substitute custodians when PASS custodians fail to report to work,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, the substitute custodian suggestion is not workable because on average, 12 percent of custodians fail to report to work on any given shift and without subs the buildings would not get clean.”

Smith said the district bargaining team is focused on developing a plan for presentation at the bargaining table that is competitive with bids received and could avoid outsourcing.

Based on the bids received, outsourcing custodial staff could save the District from $397,000 to $9,900,000 over a 3 year period.

The next bargaining session is set for April 27.