Bullying, Outsourcing Discussed at Board of Education Meeting

There were a  number of teachers and custodians who asked the Board of Education Wednesday not to outsource custodian jobs – and then there was 10-year-old Faith Aello.

“Our custodians are our friends; they are people we know and trust. They make our schools a safe place by keeping it clean and fixing stuff fast,” said Aello, who attends fifth grade at .

A few months ago the , to see what bids they could receive from privatized custodial vendors. Since then dozens of have poured into the board of education meetings to ask board members to maintain the district’s current staff.

 John Fitzgerald, assistant superintendent of business and finance for the district, noted during the meeting that seven vendors who will be submitting bids took a tour of the school Wednesday.

Though the board will be considering bid options, after seeing the bids that come in they can choose to decline the bids and keep the current staff. According to research that has been presented at previous meetings, the district could save between $1 million and $1.69 million by privatizing the services, however many staff members have stepped up to the podium and warned the board of the true value of services they would be losing.

“They’ve been very helpful, they’ve been very friendly, they’ve been very courteous and they’ve always gone the extra mile. I’ve been astounded at the number of things they can do simultaneously,” said Deborah Fristad, music teacher at

Community support for bullying prevention

At the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting, Heidi Kast, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment for LOCS, acknowledged members of the community who have made donations to the district’s bullying prevention program, .

“On behalf of I want to thank all of the organizations and members of our community that have truly embraced this district initiative,” Kast said.

The schools received a Learning Creates Community Understanding grant from and $3,000 from a grant they wrote in conjunction with the Lake Orion Rotary Club. Kast also acknowledged that has donated $1,000 to the program and Lake Orion Education Foundation President Al Brunmeier said they have raised $8,000 for the program, with more to come.

“Unfortunately Lake Orion is seeing the long-term results of bullying. Our grant committee selected Ms. Kast’s application for a grant based on that,” Carolyn Chevrier, CEO of Lakes Community Credit Union, said. “It fits right in with what we’re trying to accomplish with our grant program.”

Other meeting highlights:

• An update on the district's technology device procedures was given.
• Larry Lobert, assistant superintendent of human resources for the district, gave an update on the search for a new principal. He noted that 93 people applied for the position and that applications are no longer being accepted. Interviews with potential candidates should start around April 12. “The applicant quality looks pretty promising,” Lobert said.

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