The WW-P School District has gone out to bid for custodial, maintenance, grounds, and management services. The School Board approved the process at its meeting on February 23.
The bid process officially opened on Friday, February 26, the first day private companies could obtain the 100-page bid specifications package.
A bid opening is scheduled for one month after the bid process is opened, said Board President Hemant Marathe. At that point, the board will determine the qualified bidders based on the responses. If it decides to go with privatization, the board will have to take the lowest qualified bidder, Marathe said.
“If we accept the bid, we have to accept the lowest qualified bidder, but we can reject all bids,” Marathe said. The board does not have to opt for privatization at all, he said.
The unions representing the custodial and maintenance staff were at the meeting, but refrained, for the most part, from public comment. The unions and members of the public who opposed the board’s decision to entertain the idea of outsourcing in the first place have consistently shown up in droves to voice their concerns at meetings since October.
Gerda Duffy, a West Windsor resident who has supported the unions at recent meetings, asked the board when it would abandon the “myth” that “the only way to save $1.6 million is to fire” the custodial and maintenance staff.
Duffy referenced a contract proposal from the WW-P Service Association, which was rejected by the board last month because it included a 19 percent increase in salary for the custodians aggregated over a four-year period, and offered what board members indicated were insignificant concessions for cost savings. The union has been working without a contract for two years and has been in negotiations with the board since April, 2008.
“When will you stop complaining that the district custodians didn’t offer enough give backs, even though you didn’t ask other groups for give backs?” said Duffy. “When will you realize we are not going away until you start to play fair?” she added.
According to the union members, the proposal gave back sick days, NJEA Convention Days, and holidays. It also offered to tier the custodians’ health benefits and have new hires contribute a premium co-pay. The salary increases for the first year, of 4.9 percent, were on par with the increases the teachers received, they argued.
Former school board president Dick Harbourt, who also has taken the custodians’ side at meetings, pointed to outsourcing throughout the country by greedy companies in the private sector, which he said contributed to the poor economy.
“Many things that could be done here, and be done well, are done in other countries to save money,” he said. Outsourcing the custodians would continue the “unpatriotic” trend that “puts our entire country in jeopardy.”
Harbourt said outsourcing the custodians would be a one-time solution to this year’s budget shortfalls. “Next year, who are you going to outsource?”
“All the contracts should be opened up and re-negotiated to a lower level,” he said.
Catherine Foley, a Hawthorne Drive resident, said she is usually a proponent of the board’s budgets because she felt they provided the best education possible while being mindful of the taxpayers. She said she wanted to see the board cut costs in other areas to “demonstrate that everyone is sharing the pain, not just a select few.”
