'Honorable Dismissal' of District 202 Custodians Approved at Board Meeting

The Plainfield School District 202 Board of Education approved a resolution to honorably dismiss the custodial employees effective June 30.

However, District 202 Director of Community Relations Tom Hernandez said the board has still not decided whether to outsource custodial services. The board will vote on bids for those services at its April 25 meeting.

If the board decides not to outsource, then the custodians will be recalled.

The resolution to dismiss was done because the law requires the district to give an employee group a certain amount of notice if they could be let go, Hernandez said.

According to the resolution, if the board contracts with a third-party vendor to perform custodial duties, “the contract specifications require that all available positions be offered to qualified employees honorably dismissed as a result of the outsourcing decision.”

Hernandez said the honorable discharge process helps to protect the custodians inasmuch as it requires the vendor to offer them jobs.

The District notified the Plainfield Association of Support Staff in a Feb. 11 letter that the Board of Education is “considering contracting with a third party to perform custodial services currently performed by PASS members to more effectively manage costs including workforce safety, efficiency, supplies, benefits and compensation.”

Custodial members of the Plainfield Association of Support Staff have been a vocal opponent to outsourcing services.

In February, many PASS members protested outside the Plainfield School District Administration Center.

PASS President John Piechocinski said at the February meeting that outsourcing custodial services would not be fair to the employees, nor would it maintain the level of service PASS provides.

“If you outsource you will never again, never, maintain the high quality of custodial employees you have right now,” he said.