Lake Orion Custodians Speak Out Against Privatizing Services

Two custodians gave a thorough presentation on the true value of their services to the district at Wednesday night’s Lake Orion Board of Education meeting, in an effort to stop the board from .

The two women, Sandi Engel of Waterford and Kathy Sandstrom of Lake Orion, who work as custodians at Lake Orion Community Schools, were among a full room of attendees at the meeting.  The custodians present wore lime green shirts that read, “Privatization hurts our children and our community.”

“We are your neighbors, your friends and your co-workers,” Engel said. “We are vested in the Lake Orion Community Schools.”

At the meeting on Jan. 11, John Fitzgerald, assistant superintendent of business and finance for the district, noted that other area school districts had started to privatize their services, and a report he referred to showed possible savings of between $1 million and $1.69 million for the district, if they chose to privatize the services. It was decided then that the Request for Proposals (RFP) that had been drafted could be finalized. Board members at Wednesday’s meeting discussed the timeline for analyzing bids from vendors, and possibly awarding one.

The proposed date was to have a bid award decision by the May 23 board meeting, but after discussion at the meeting the board is looking to push back the date or conduct vendor interviews sooner.

“I just have some concern between final analysis and bid award ... the timing is pretty tight and I think there was a lot of discussion at the last meeting about how we wanted to see numbers before we really considered this decision,” Trustee Melissa Miller said. “We may need some more time in there to really consider the impact.”

In spite of the extra money in the district’s pocket, custodians came prepared with dozens of facts to present to the board members. Some of the facts presented at the meeting include:

• There are 45.5 custodial position at Lake Orion Community Schools
• The average years of service put in by a custodian is nearly 13
• 26 of the custodians are Lake Orion residents, 19 graduated from Lake Orion High School
• On average, 33,000 square feet is cleaned by each custodian in an eight-hour shift
• Collectively the group of custodians has donated over $2,900 to community and school initiatives

In addition to the statistics, Engel went on to list the variety of roles the custodians play in not only the schools but the community as well. She outlined the extra mile they go at work by not just cleaning but replacing ceiling tiles, repairing toilets, painting walls, taking care of the gardening, snow removal and much more. Some employees also coach athletics and volunteer in and outside of the school.

“Though this is the end of the presentation, it is not the end to the many ways that the custodial staff adds to the Lake Orion Community and the schools,” Engel concluded.

science teacher Karen Wampuszyc backed up Engel and Sandstrom’s presentation by explaining that the custodians are a part of her classroom, and if the board decides to privatize they will get a different level of service. Wampuszyc is a Walled Lake resident and since that school district has privatized its services, Wampuszyc said she has noticed a large decline in the service, and noted teachers she has talked to there feel there is a disconnection and no longer the relationships with the custodians.

“Ask yourself what are the true savings at what costs, and is it worth it?” Wampuszyc challenged. “Are we being penny wise and pound foolish?”