BOE Prez: Weighing Outsourcing Not Easy, But Savings Hard to Ignore

To the editor:

On May 22, at our regular Board of Education meeting, the board heard numerous comments from those in attendance on a bid for after-hours janitorial services. The primary concerns voiced by the audience revolved around outsourcing and safety.

To put this proposal into context, it may be helpful to know that Moorestown Township Public Schools already successfully contracts with independent firms for a variety of services and that these providers come in contact with our staff, students, parents and community members on a daily basis. For instance:

• All of our food service professionals have been employees of a private provider for the past 20 years.
• The after-hours janitorial staff at our elementary schools, Upper Elementary School, and a portion of our high school have been employees of a private provider for more than 10 years.
• All of our grounds personnel have been employees of a private provider for the last two years.
• Currently, 50 percent of our bus routes are contracted to private providers. We have always used private providers in this area.
• On a daily basis we have a significant number of substitutes working in our buildings.

This strategy is not new. In fact, in a recent survey of New Jersey schools by the New Jersey School Board Association, 84 percent of all schools that responded said they used private providers in these and other areas.

The contract with our current provider, ABM Industries, Inc., expires June 30. As this contract is expiring, the board issued a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP included a base bid for all of our current after-hours janitorial services, as currently performed by ABM, for a term of three years.

ABM currently supplies the after-hours janitorial staff as noted above. Given our experience with ABM in many of our schools over the last three years, there is no compelling reason to switch providers.

The RFP also included an alternate bid that, if accepted, would add after-hours services at William Allen Middle School (WAMS) to the contract. This would have the effect of replacing our after-hours janitorial employees at WAMS with employees of the successful bidder.

We received multiple base and alternate bids. Having analyzed the bids, we have two low bidders. If the base bid is accepted, Blue Stripes Property Management, Inc., will be the successful bidder. If we accept the base bid and alternate bid, ABM, our current provider, will be the successful bidder. In either case, the majority of our after-hours janitorial employees will be provided by a private provider. If the alternate bid is accepted, the number of these janitorial employees will increase by four.

For the 2013-14 school year, the board budgeted $370,000 for the services included in the base bid. Blue Stripes bid $352,000 for these services. While the ABM bid for similar services was higher than Blue Stripes, when their alternate bid is considered, we project there will be a savings of $120,000 for each year of the proposed three-year contract.

Given the current financial profile of New Jersey schools and the escalating cost of operating the district, the opportunity to accrue additional savings is difficult to ignore. As it is the Board of Education’s goal to maintain and improve the education we deliver through this economic cycle, and to live within the constraints and new mandates imposed by our state government, the additional savings will certainly assist us in achieving this goal.

The board values all of our employees and disdains having to weigh the welfare of the district over that of the affected individuals. None of these choices are easy, but we strive to consider all perspectives.

During the public comment period, many of those who addressed the board focused on a perceived safety issue for our staff and students—that is, the claim that switching from our own employees at WAMS to new employees increases this risk.

First, the safety of our students, staff, parents and guardians, administrators, and the multitude of community members that use our buildings and grounds is of paramount importance to the Board of Education. Second, the suggestion that the population of individuals employed by private providers has an inherent risk profile greater than the population as a whole is inappropriate, at best.

Each private provider we use goes through the same background check mandated for board members, administrators, teachers, and all school district employees, and that will continue to be the case no matter which bid is accepted. The Board of Education is committed to maintaining our vigilance on this issue.

The Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, at the middle school to further consider this and other issues.

Don D. Mishler
President, Moorestown Board of Education

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