FARMINGTON – Mt. Blue Regional School District directors voted 9-3 to authorize subcontracting out the district’s custodial services following an emotionally-charged public hearing, which at one point, school directors were accused of “union-busting.”
The vote authorizes Superintendent Michael Cormier his discretion in either going with an outside janitorial company or finding a way to stay with an in-house staff. A minimum of $200,000 the first year will come from out-sourcing the services. A total reduction of $590,000 would come over the next two years from 21 bus drivers who now also work as custodians for full health insurance benefit to part time drivers only. A total of 23 health insurance packages would be eliminated and 18 custodians would lost their jobs.
After the vote to contract out, the board added back into the budget $30,000 for technical support and $35,000 for special education behavioral services. At the last meeting, directors added back into the budget two teaching positions that had been on the chopping block – one reading specialist and one math interventionist position. At the end of tonight’s meeting, directors voted to approve a final budget total of $28,907,417, which is an overall reduction of $84,565, if going to subcontracting custodial work out.
Those against subcontracting custodian services spoke of putting local residents out of work, the quality of service would not be guaranteed and that those working for the district and not an outside company will care more about the students.
Bruce Rollins, a 15-year veteran bus driver and custodian, pointed to the importance in the quality of service and care of the children and said it, “wasn’t fair to hear threats of ‘if you don’t conform to the union contract we’ll be sub-contracted out.'”
The union has been in negotiations with the district for 14 months. The next mediation is scheduled for mid May. Director Paul Druan of Weld, asked Rollins who had threatened him. Rollins replied that no one directly, but “it’s just general, it’s there,” he said.
Former school board director Janice David of Farmington, called the sub-contracting out threat of losing several jobs lost as “union-busting. They shouldn’t have to go through what you’re putting them through,” she added. With that several in the audience applauded.
“Look at all these people who will lose their jobs,” Rollins said looking at a tally sheet of those who would be affected if another company takes over. “It does take a village to raise our children. I hope we can continue to keep our children safe,” he said.
Director Iris Silverstein of Farmington, said she was opposed to out-sourcing the work, noting she thought the employees would make less an hour, which will result in, “we’ll see more people struggling,” she said and added, the employees working for the district “they’re people committed to working with kids.”
Director Bill Reid of New Sharon, in favor of sub-contracting the work out, noted that many of the experienced custodians would probably be re-hired by the custodial company. “It’s misleading to say they won’t have jobs,” he said. He also noted that custodians get 100 percent insurance coverage under their current contract, while teachers get 83 percent and administrators get 80 percent coverage. “It’s amazing they do (get 100 percent coverage),” Reid said, “quite a deal.”
Director Raymond Glass of Farmington, said he would support the motion to subcontract out, noting this was his most difficult decision during his years serving on the board. He said over the last few years, cuts have made to the language programs, teaching positions, tech support, and that the Mt. Blue district is way below the state average school districts spend on education.
“I looked at this as the tipping point. We need to spend more on the educational needs of our students. We don’t have the money to pay benefits anymore,” Glass said. “We’ve asked for help and we didn’t get any. I hope we can begin talking and preserve what we have.”
“The number one priority is to education children,” Druan said. “It’s unfortunate it’s on the backs of support staff.”
Those directors voting in favor of subcontracting custodial services were Reid, Druan, Glass, Helen Wilkey of Vienna, Keith Swett, Angela LeClair and Robert Pullo, all of Wilton; Betsey Hyde of Temple and board chair, Mark Prentiss of Industry. Those voting against were Scott Webber of New Vineyard, Silverstein and Robert Flick of Farmington. New director, Jennifer Hebert of Starks, abstained.
Directors set the budget meeting for 7 p.m. May 21 at the Mt. Blue High School gym and the district-wide validation vote is May 24.
I’d LOVE to know more about this particular situation. Unions, in the beginning, were a very good thing for workers needing protection from ruthless business owners; we all know that. But as time has gone on, Unions have really caused more problems than they are worth in many cases. But as I read this, I wonder…. if all the custodians get chopped, will they stay in the area? If so, how will they pay their taxes? On the other hand, while the article says teachers pay 17% (83% gets paid as benefits), and the custodians get 100% health insurnace paid, what are the other differences? I’m looking at pay-check differences. Most of the custondians don’t get paid anywhere near what teachers are paid. So the difference of percentages in health insurance paid wouldn’t come close to the end-of-the-week differences. And yes, I know there’s a difference in education level. And what about the Director? Will HE take cuts? And his secretary?
You all know who I am. I’d love to know more about this. I’m sick-to-death of seeing real estate taxes go up to support the school system when most of us don’t have any increase in paychecks. We’ve built two new school buildings in the past two years with the assurance from the State our communities wouldn’t have to pay more than 5% of the building costs. And look how the budget has increase? And the increase is passed on to us tax payers. And the taxes go up. Maybe we should contract out the Superintendent’s job.
Ahhh – “Where’s Newtie now?” you ask.
Why he’s whispering in the big floppy elephant ears of the SAD 9 board. The next thing you know someone will come up with a plan for a non-union overseer and $25 a week to hire kids who get free lunches to give them “a feeling of self worth” and “an understanding of where money comes from.”
Seriously – this just what we need – more unemployment in Franklin County. Way to go directors. But I think you may be a bit late to the tea party. They’re about to get dumped in the harbor now.
I was present at the meeting last night as an educator, a parent, and a taxpayer and was saddened by the board’s decision to contract with an outside company. One board member used the term “fiscally responsible” to explain why we needed to do this. Cheaper products are not neccessarily “fiscally responsible”. Shorterm, immediate savings often have longterm negative effects.
The board had an opportunity to send a very clear message of support for all our district’s employees. The message sent with this vote, however, is that people are expendable no matter how hard they have worked or how dedicated they are to the children in our schools.
The motion itself was worded in a way that implied if you are against outsourcing then you are against educating children. The essence of the motion was “do you support the contracting out of custodial services in order to improve educational programs.” I am totally for improving educational programs for all our students- there is never enough money. I am also against contracting with an outside company.
I left the meeting last night sad and frustrated by the board’s decision, lack of compassion , and shortsightedness.
Wow I can honestly say that I was totally speechless at last nights meeting! The majority of board members came across to me as uncaring, closed minded, robots. Maybe it is time to re examine the type of people we have sitting on the board or limit their stay!
Mr Reid seemed to be especially concerned regarding the issue of insurance, but a very important cost factor was left out, What do the insurance packages look like across the board, For example, does a member of the Administrative team have the same coverages and deductibles, as say a teacher or custodian? It seems unfair and almost prejudice to focus on one group of people to save! Maybe it is time for the district to figure the savings if everyone in the district Top to bottom, pay a larger portion of the cost for Health insurance as much as 50% Most people in this area have to pay for their own insurance or not have any at all, so they would still have a better package than most in the area, at a great savings for the district.
Mr Druan’s comment regarding “The number one priority is educating the Children”, “It’s unfortunate it’s on the backs of Support Staff” Really? So when the Administrative team gave themselves a pay raise in this budget, they threaten to contract out custodial services it will eliminate at least 18 custodial positions, and force 21 bus drivers to become part time employees losing benefits.. These men and women are our friends and neighbors, they are watching out for our children, they are a crucial part of the “Team”. This leaves me with the question Why? Why is this on the backs of the Support Staff? For their jobs to be threatened year after year..is wrong, Someone at the meeting mentioned Adult Bullying – boy does the shoe fit!
How unfortunate this is. In a community that is already financially stressed to have 18 people lose their jobs and their health insurance is heartbreaking. To say that some of the custodians will possibly be rehired has me wondering if these experienced employees of the school will have the pleasure of doing the same job for less pay and benefits. Is this what we want? Would you want that for yourself? Are these subcontractors going to be vetted to make sure there aren’t any criminals, of any variety, being allowed access to our most precious commodity, our children? If not, and anything goes wrong, think of the cost to the school district and therefore the tax payers.
We are building new schools and laying off employees to pay for them! These employees being let go can thank everyone who wanted these new schools we clearly could not afford.
100% medical coverage!!! Well that is quite a deal indeed and you cant blame them for resisting change,,,,,BUT
Welcome to OUR world people..
Many of us have experienced cutbacks in every area of OUR financial lives,,,,
OUR benefit costs have increased dramatically or we have lost OUR benefits completely…
OUR businesses have struggled to make a profit or have been forced to close,,,,,,,
None of this is YOUR fault,,,but it’s OUR reality…
So Welcome to OUR World.
We’re all in this together,,,,what makes you think you’re exempt?
We can make it work (and we will) but the special interests gotta go.
I’m saddened for the employees. How many of our bus drivers were doing custodial work? how many custodians are needed? sad day, sad times. Cuts are always painful.
Tough decisions have to be made and as one can read, they are never popular.
How about a survey to all residents where most of us know of one place or another where cuts should be made?
Clarification- It is important to clarify the numbers regarding Support Staff Health benefits. Reference Director Bill Reid’s comments. 100% of the Employee’s (only) benefits are paid by the District HOWEVER Support Staff pay 35% for any dependent/family coverage (District pays 65%). It is also important to note that nearly half of the Support Staff DO NOT have any health coverage, even though they are working just under the full-time cut-off. As compared to the district paying 80%of all of the Administrative Health benefits (employee and all dependent/family coverage) and all teachers benefits are paid 83% across the board by the district. The impression that was given last night was very different!
It is also unfortunate the the Board does not view Support Staff (and only Support Staff) wage freezes and furlough days (for 2 consecutive years) as being “helpful” (Director Glass) to solving the problem.
As a result of last nights vote, it appears that anything short of the Support Staff (once again only the Support Staff) coming up with at least $200,000 in “savings” will not be considered “helpful” and the result will be that our custodians jobs will go to a subcontractor.
class pictures came home yesterday. When putting my childs picture in the school book, I could not help but notice the increase in classroom size. These kids have gone from an average of 18 pupils per classroom, to 27 in my childs class this year. It’s quite obvious that something HAS to be done. The answer I don’t have, but I feel I have to respect the school boards decision. I’m sure the decision wasn’t an easy one.
First of all, support staff can choose either 90% /10%, or 100 % coverage for employees only, with a high deductible. Then they pay to have their family added. Which figures out to be what the teachers pay at 83%/17%. There are many support staff that can not even get health insurance because they are not allowed to work enough hours to have insurance. They have gone with cutbacks and job changes for the last three years. All of the support staff have taken 3 furlow days the last 2 years. A lot of the support staff do not get vacation time or paid for any school breaks/ storm days and summer break. They do this willing to keep their jobs. They are in the real world!!!!!!!! I feel so bad to see so much negativity when we should be trying to keep people working that live in our community. They also pay taxes and spend money in our district.
Maybe we should subcontract some teachers too. Maybe even an Elem School Principal or two. Those people losing their jobs are depending on that paycheck. There is an awful lot of wasteful spending of our money in this District. Starting from top to bottom of the totem pole. Maybe an overhaul of everything is needed, including the Board!
I would like to know why is it ALWAYS on the backs of the support staff? What are the Administrators willing to give up? NOTHING!!! we take furlough days, wage freezes, and we always have to be the ones to come up with this money while administrators put it in their pockets!
Every year its always the same if we don’t give up something we could be contracted out! its getting pretty old!
So even though MBRSD will be receiving an additional $400k from the Starks merger, and it was said that a bus and part-time bus driver would need to be hired to compensate for the increase in the student population(an estimated $53k I believe is what was quoted in the Starks Merger article), we are now going to out-source our entire custodial program? I don’t understand.
I have no respect for bringing the children into this adult situation. Asking small children to walk around with “pickett signs” is not professional.
Welcome to 2012 – full time employment is 40 hours a week – not 30 hours a week like it is for the support staff in MBRSD.
Full time hourly (non-salaried) employees work all year long – not 9 months of the year.
Tax payers are paying 100% of health benefits all year long for this district’s support staff who work 30 hours a week and only 9 months a year. Thank goodness they keep some support staffers hours under 30 hours so we don’t have to pay for more part time (less than 40 hours a week – less than 12 months a year for hourly employees) employees health insurance – we can’t afford it!
Who else works part time and gets 100% of health insurance paid for – in this day and age??
I’m not sure how I feel about the school district. I like to save money like everyone else, but putting good, qualified bus drivers and custodians out of a job because of outsourcing isn’t something I’m comfortable with. I pay my taxes and I feel that I have a right to say where my money goes. Once outsourced, will the out-of-work bus drivers and custodians be hired by the new company? Could negotiations help them get a job?
I have an out-of-state friend that lives in a town where they sub-contract with a company for bus drivers. There have been so many problems with these drivers – no consistency in who drives a route, foul language towards students (the latest incident involved every father showing up at the bus stop in the morning and telling the bus driver what for – the bus driver quit). It seems that these sub-contracted bus drivers aren’t paid much and the pool to draw from isn’t that great because of the wages. I wouldn’t want that for my children. I want the driver to be well-qualified and someone in the community we could trust. Just sayin….
As a parent and PTA member at Mallett school, I’m concerned about a number of issues. Now custodians and support staff have relationships with the kids and teachers. When there are evening activities and events, we know we can trust them and that if a kid ventures away they’ll help. We know that they are trustworthy in a school full of equipment and supplies. We are part of a community which includes parents, teachers, staff and of course children.
The idea that saving money trumps the importance of community is troubling. As part of the Mallett school community it makes me sad to think that the support staff who are an integral part of that community could lose their benefits and perhaps their jobs.
i am sadden by the decsion by the board to sub out for custodains, look at the people that just lost their jobs thats 18ppl. i only hope that they figured in the unemployment figure that they will have to pay when they file for unemployed. i do agree that we need to better the education for our children but isnt there other ways that we can do that? i do understand that it must be hard to make decsions like this, but if u were there last night some of those ppl on the board were pretty cold hearted. they have a job so they dont have to worry about it. and for the comment that was made( its time to pull up the poop strap and suck it up.) i would say thats pretty harsh to say, and for the comment there are plenty of jobs out there. i would like to know where? like i said it had to be a hard decsion to make. and there were alot of good points made by the public. i dont agree with subcontracting out.. something needs to happen thats for sure. i feel awful for the children, the employees, the town, and the schools. i dont get the whole union thing either maybe im just stupid and dont get into all of it but i am a little confused by all that…
the other thing that i was wondering is where has been the rep. for chesterville i have yet to see him/her there???? i understand that people have their own lifes, but arent they getting paid to be there and make decsions too? maybe im wrong but i just dont understand that i guess. not meaning to be harsh or anything but just sayin. all in all. im pretty sadden by all of this.
SweetPea and Tony both hit the nail on the head. We will have a less talented pool of workers at this wage level. Do you really want an inexperienced, disinterested person driving your children around? How dedicated do you think a person would be at that wage level? No one can live on minimum wage these days, you’re going to attract the lowest common denominator and people who are looking for a jumping off point. Times are bad enough, you are going to see a lot of people lose their homes or simply move away because of this, which would mean lower enrollment rates. RSU9 is one of the largest employers in this county. We’re not talking about a handful of people here. A decision like this would deal a real fatal blow to the industry in this county and ultimately will end up hurting the school and the taxpayers rather than benefiting them.
I would just like to point out that the school district isn’t paying for the building of the schools the state is so they aren’t cutting positions because they have to pay for the school. You aren’t the only people struggling, the school is too and I would appreciate getting the education I think deserve so I don’t have to struggle any more than necessary in the future. It is sad that custodians may be losing their jobs but other people have lost their jobs before too you aren’t alone.
I would also like to point out that district employees will still be driving buses they are just being cut back from custodial work and becoming a part-time bus driver.
This article also states that the “Directors set the budget meeting for 7 p.m. May 21 at the Mt. Blue High School gym and the district-wide validation vote is May 24.”
Everyone who wrote here – and all of your friends and family – can show up at these meetings and exercise your voices and votes against a budget that you don’t support. Last I knew, we’re still a Democracy.
Protect our schools – please attend these meetings.
I can appreciate the many expressions of dissatisfaction on this very sensitive matter. Of course, the custodians deserve a fair and appropriate compensation and benefit plan. They work hard and do an excellent job. We all care about those in our community who are losing jobs and are hit hard from this economy. The point I’d like to make is that we all know members of the school board. My experience with several, even those who voted for this, have a history of reasonable, compassionate, intelligent service for the good of our district and our children. Those we considered to be of strong character last week can’t so quickly lose our respect and be considered inept, uncaring and selfish this week. There is clearly more to this matter than meets the eye, and I hope that will come out soon.
Gee, there is sure a lot of reasons to keep the custodial staff in place at RSU9. But it occurs to me that the very same arguments for not hiring a private contractor should also apply to the union that supports the government custodians: community spirit, friendliness toward the students, avoiding more unemployment in the area, they know their jobs, the money’s not that important, they don’t come from outside the area, they are part of the RSU9 family etc, etc. Some say this move is to break the union. But, the way I understand it, the hiring of a private contractor is not a done deal. There is one more mediation session and if the union does not bend , and it has not done so in many months, the Superintendent is authorized to hire an outside contractor for custodial services. The custodians and the union ought to consider all the arguments offered to save the school’s custodians and be more pliable. A tree that is too stiff can break. So it is with unions who don’t bend. Once again, the very same arguments to save the in-house custodians applies equally to the custodians themselves as they consider whether to compromise and save their jobs or not.
@”A Student”- Yes, you need the education you deserve.
Rob Peter to pay Paul is all we are doing. If all these folks lose their jobs, then they collect unemployment until they can find a new job – THIS economy and in Franklin County…. the tax payers still pay the bill.
No long term good will come of this.
I’m upset that I missed this meeting and only have this news report and discussion after it to rely on for my information to assess this very difficult problem! Clearly I need more info to understand the so called benifits of such a harsh move to change a very well oiled working system to an unknown sketchy one. So is the school board and the others that agree with them saying this plan will save the district money? Where does the saved money go? Back to the tax payers? Over to the teachers for classroom supplies? More teachers? More class options? More administrators? More.. More… More…!!! Ok they say we have to cut the budget… Are we or are they just keeping the money they stripped off the backs of hardworking busdrivers/custodians to put into their pet projects. Even if their projects are valid, greatly needed items or activities are they more important than qualified established workers who are hard at work in a very thankless job! When was the last time you rode on a bus full of excited loud kids and thought… Hey maybe we should get rid of the competent driver and swap him/her out for an under paid novice who probably doesn’t like loud excited kids on their best day! Not sure of the right answer here but wonder if the district is really trying to save the tax payer money or shift it around to areas that they want more money forand ha en been denied. So back to my question… Where does all of this so called savings go?
First of all I would like to thank all the SAD 9 custodians and bus drivers for a job well done, second of all I would like to thank the 3 board members for not caving into the rest of board. What I see happening is the displaced workers if lucky will find jobs for less money and probably no benefits in other towns, they will spend their money out of the SAD 9 area on gas,groceries and eat in there restaurants (this reasoning was stated at a recent board meeting for adding Starks to our district). Being a board member is a tough job doing what is right is another, citizens of SAD 9 vote on May 21, 2012 to repeal the outsourcing of the support staff, they have been hit hard enough allready. Lastly I hope none of the board members will never be put in this same position as the support staff I will be voting for MIckey Mouse when my board members are up for reelection I hope other voters do the same.
@ A Student, you say that the state is paying for the building of the schools, not the district. Where do you think the state gets its money? Just a hint–it gets it’s money from the tax paying citizens of the district. Neither the state or federal government makes money. The money they “give” us comes from our pockets.
What’s shameless? (you might ask).
Using CHILDREN TO CARRY PROTEST SIGNS,,,,,,,,That’s Shameless and Inexcusable.
Whoever EXPLOITED THOSE CHILDREN by putting signs in their hands and having them MARCH IN PROTEST,,
SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED FOR CHILD ABUSE AND EXPLOITING YOUNG CHILDREN!!!
I AM SHOCKED AND DISAPPOINTED PROTESTORS WILL STOOP THIS LOW!!
USING CHILDREN AS A PLOY!!! OMG<<<<LOCK THEM UP BEFORE THEY HURT SOMEONE…
IF you cant win your argument,,,,,That DOES NOT give you the right to USE LITTLE CHILDREN!!! OMG PLEASE.
Dont bother telling me it's "about the children",,,,,They are only doing what they think their adult "leaders" want them to do..
Irresponsible,,,,Shameless,,,Reprehensible,,,,
THIS should be looked into.
Those poor kids..They are getting sucked in by these irresponsible "adults" (if you want to stretch the term).
These people need to be investigated immediately.
In a few years there will be little use for the new schools because there will not be enough students to warrant their upkeep. Enrollments are declining, and then we took on Starks. That will cost us more in the end.. Unemployment at its highest rates ever, gas at nearly $4.00 a gallon, and you may think that this decision is the answer. It is the old way of thinking;; Keep the district in dept and we will keep receiving the FREE MONEY from the state…
confused2, that is a big part of the problem. Everyone thinks they are getting free money. Why can’t they realize that it is their money that they are being gifted with by the government. What do they think their taxes are for? They more “free” money they take, the higher their taxes.
Student seems blinded by the light of reality
I do find it upsetting when our citizens become irrational to the point of upsetting the political process by choosing to vote for “Micky Mouse” rather than getting involved themselves. It is easy to sit back and let others serve in our community and then criticize with limited understanding. It would be more favorable to our community for those who are disappointed to get involved. However that takes time, energy and intellectual engagement.
The hard working Custodians and Bus Drivers should not have to go through these threats of cuts if their not obedient to administrative wishes. Maybe the school board members need to go over all Salaries and Job Descriptions and analize if ones are doing their job descriptions or having assistants doing their work for them but still getting paid high salaries for little work???
They might find some real cost savings there. What would happen if all were involved from the TOP and not just the Custodians and Bus Drivers contributing to the cost savings and agreeing to a pay reduction. WOW maybe only a 1% reduction could really improve our education.
As a standing rule. third party contractors are more efficient, perform higher quality of work at a much less cost to the taxpayer. We should applaud a decision to reach out to the job creators for services. Hooray for the free market system and down with bloated inefficient public school system that fails our beautiful children and our future.
To wisdom, first and foremost I do go to meetings to be informed ,second I cannot be on the board as my spouse is employed by SAD 9 (not a custodian). Secondly it is not irrational to vote for Mickey Mouse when only one member is running who I will not vote for. Last but not least if you are to cowardly to state your name you are the worst offender you will share your view but are to scared to stand up for what you believe in , where is the Wisdom here.
Is it realistic to think that the administration and school board simply targeted custodians and failed to review the compensation of all employees, assessing their job duties, and effectiveness? Honestly that would really be ignorant and I can’t believe that. I remember that those on this board I know are not selfish, ignorant, or privileged. They have stood up for those most important in this process, the students. Unfortunately, when unions hold out and fail to represent their members difficult decisions are made like this one, because ultimately we need to educate our children beyond any other common good. Simply keeping employees because it is better for our community means we need to be prepared to pay more taxes and have a lack of fiduciary responsibility from our leadership.
It is not fair to demonize the school board for these tough decisions!. They have a budget that must be balanced, and they sit through multiple meetings a week in the spring trying to do this. They did NOT go into this wishing to fire people, they simply wanted to negotiate in other to help balance out the budget for our schools and our children’s education. It really sucks that the negotiations didn’t happen, these people would still have their jobs AND a far better benefits package than anyone I know. People losing their jobs is not something anyone wants to happen, but don’t tie peoples hands and then blame them for the decisions that they have to make because of it.
I certainly do not want to demonize the school board (and shame on the person who demonizes people for having kids have fun carrying signs — to try to make that seem like a bad thing is pretty pathetic). Yes, they have tough decisions to make. But custodians and school bus drivers don’t make much money. They are likely some of the lower paid people in our community. It seems like those who make less get cut first, while those who make more manage to avoid that fate. Our country is suffering severe economic imbalances from thirty years of a philosophy that focuses on deregulation, tax cutting, and lack of support for the things that hold communities together. I think a lot of people got fooled by an ideology that tried to equate freedom with more economic clout to the wealthiest — and that ideological falsehood has caused great harm.
Why haven’t we heard of any attempt from the union to negotiate a compromise for these folks?
I continued to be stunned by the rancor and vitriol in the above comments and lack of ownership of those comments.
Freedom of speech is not freedom from accountability.
Sign your name.
Reality check: I wonder how many people who have lost their jobs in the past – sometimes more than once – were give the option of changing their benefit package to keep their jobs. A benefit package by the way that is quite good. Employees of RSU 9 should have a chat with some employees from the hospital and see just how good they have it. No one is immune to job loss. That is a painful truth. One thousands have been dealing with for years. Job loss is a terrible, frightening thing, but it’s happening EVERYWHERE. From the sounds of these comments, one would think that this is some groundbreaking event. There aren’t a lot of options for work in Franklin County, but there are a lot of people who don’t work in Franklin county. Some travel 40 + miles to work. You may not like it, but when faced with a tough decision, you do what you know you have to do.
This can’t be an easy decision the school board was faced with, but it’s one they were driven to. It’s a shame to see all the derogatory statements and name calling in these comments. Anyone who thinks this was an easy decision is either not thinking straight, or doesn’t want to know the whole story. Shame on anyone who felt it necessary to publicly blast the school board for trying to do their job. One that isn’t always easy or very popular. The fact someone plans to vote for Mickey Mouse is evidence that people would rather live in dreamland than deal with reality. Unfortunately, we can’t all do that.
@ Concerned Citizen and Shamless : REALLY? Do either of you know these children? They may not be of “adult” age, but they have a say in their education and the people they interact with. The support staff whose jobs are in the balance may be their family members, friends, mentors, etc. Just because you de-value their opinion, that does not make it any less important. Kudos to the parents of these kids, involving them in the decisions that impact them, and teaching them the value of standing up for the people in their lives.
Anyone missing this part? “After the vote to contract out, the board added back into the budget $30,000 for technical support and $35,000 for special education behavioral services. At the last meeting, directors added back into the budget two teaching positions that had been on the chopping block – one reading specialist and one math interventionist position. At the end of tonight’s meeting, directors voted to approve a final budget total of $28,907,417, which is an overall reduction of $84,565, if going to subcontracting custodial work out.”
This seems like a back-door type of thing to do. Cut custodial and then put other things back in…
The ball is now in the court of the custodians and their union. All of the evils the critics of the School
Board are afraid of can now be gotten rid of by the union if the custodians would be realistic. The times are very tough now and have been for a few years. The choice for the custodians is clear.
It is with much sadness to read how my former colleagues and friends are being devalued by the administration and many school board members at a recent meeting. I worked for MBRSD for 13 years and during that time, my job, as well as the teachers’ job, would not have been as efficient or effective without the assistance of our custodians. Their accessibility for assistance and knowledge of the facility was invaluable to us, not to mention their camaraderie and friendship. Students were surrounded by a very warm and embracing atmosphere. Removing an integral part of the team will undermine the services that directly affect our students. The value of a person who works as a custodian should not be determined by their pay rate. Most who work in this capacity are much underpaid. Education is a people business. People are not a commodity. Kudos to my fellow colleagues and friends. Thank you for your support during my years at Mt. Blue High School, along with the care you showed my children, and for a job well done!!!
Your Friend,
Mary Melcher
not all of the custodains are in the union, thank u. and now its up to the union to make the decsion if they are willing to take the cuts. meaning they need to come up with the same amount that the board just cut. not everyone that works for RSU 9 are in the union. the union did this everyone, they had the chance to keep the custodains and they didnt want to budge…
This is sad sign of our times.
Nothing new here,,,,,most of us have dealt with these kind of cutbacks going back many years.
I know I didn’t “ENJOY” the process back when my place of employment was forced to cut back and eventually close.
I am “qualified” to honestly feel for the workers effected. The process is painful with all the uncertainty.
All too common these days. Fact.
I also have experienced the “AFTER” effect of some cutbacks.
I’ve seen rigid unbending workers lose their jobs and be replaced,,,,,
Here is the thing,,,,,,,,
The “replacement workers” were not the monsters from mars every one was trying to hype them up to be.
They were grateful, cooperative,productive and (last but ot least) REALISTIC workers.
Oh,,,did I mention they ALSO had families and feelings.
What I saw was a drastic improvement overall.
And lo and behold,,,,the sun rose the next day,,,just like always.
“If” the cutback happens,,,the existing workers will have the option to work under the new rules.
If they CHOOSE not to,,,,a replacement worker will be hired.
A new paycheck to someone who maybe has not had one in a very long time (probaby thru no fault of their own).
You’ll hear sour grapes from one side and thankful for the opportunity from the other side.
NOTE,,,,I especially feel bad for the Non Union workers caught up in this mess. I’ve seen unions screw their own people before,,so they dont stand a chance other than,,,,,get ready to get one of the jobs as soon as the dust clears so you can take care of your families… That’s what it’s all about. You’ll find many good folks(they’ll be called scabs) joining you to serve the community.
We have to move forward,,,,,,,,,,
Take care of yourselves and your families first,,,,,,,,
Dont let someone from away,,,,,,,,,manipulate.
Good Luck to you all.
Keep your chins up.
Cuts everywhere… I’ve got agree that 100% healthcare is rediculous!