Letter to the Editor: Question School Board Before Privatization Vote
"I encourage and ask the residents to ask more questions and get involved quickly because there is more to this than what you are seeing or being told."
Dear Editor:
It appears the the RCS Board of Education is bound and determined to move forward with privatizing all of the custodial services, bus drivers and four grounds positions.
Even though the Blue Group has made huge concessions in the past and now was ask to make $3.9 million in cuts for three years amounting to a whopping $12 million, which would put those emplyees at or below minimum wage. Nice negotiating, RCS Board and administrators.
Waterford just agreed across the board for everyone to take 5 percent to help keep current vested employees. Troy residents are upset with their current private company and wants Troy Schools to re-hire district employees but can't since they sold their busses and now cannot afford to do so. Walled Lake just suspended their private company and told them they are out for issues with work quality and others. So, what do these directors and board members think is going to happen here in Rochester Schools when you had some of the cleanest and best kept schools in Michigan? Employees were vested and lived in the district or had children in RCS.
Now we will have transients working for us, not vested in our community and probably will come from other cities.
The nice thing is the administrators over the past few years have given themselves two raises and then froze their wages ... way to go! Leading by example?
Then they took a 5 percent cut thinking the state was going to do it and wanted residents to think they were doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. Then the state decided not to. Otherwise, you would have never seen that cut. They still will not offer to take a pay cut. I ask Mr. Stoner and the others involved in this plan; would you all take a 60 percent pay cut like the others under you?
I encourage and ask the residents to ask more questions and get involved quickly because there is more to this than what you are seeing or being told.
Are you going to trust your kids with employees who change daily, weekly maybe even monthly? No consistency in bus schedules. Just ask the Troy and Walled Lake residents.
Are your taxes going down? No. So, worse service for the same price ... I question that philosophy. Question your Board Members before it's too late come the first meeting of April!
Sincerely,
Gary Elliott, lifelong resident and past RCS student
Send letters to the editor to Rochester Patch Editor Kristin Bull at kristin.bull@patch.com. Please include a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for length.
Nancy
9:32 pm on Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Ask Representative Tom McMillin of Rochester Hills why he wants to bankrupt our public school system and kill our property values. Ask Tom and company why he attacked the hourly rates of our janitors. The problem is the charter school/online school paid for state rep we have. The info on this guy is out there.
Mackey Chandler
7:42 am on Thursday, March 29, 2012
"-there is more to this than what you are seeing or being told."
And you had the opportunity and didn't tell us either. Fail.
Kim K.
8:23 am on Thursday, March 29, 2012
I am really very worried about the custodians that will be working with our students daily. I can't just say, "Oh, the board said they would have background checks so I'm sure they'll be fine." I've heard that some of the privatized custodians from other districts were wearing tethers. Our custodians are part of our school families! They often times have children or grandchildren attending RCS. I don't know where the cuts should come from; I see parent volunteers running large portions of our school as it is. This just doesn't feel right in my gut.
George Taylor
11:03 pm on Thursday, March 29, 2012
I am absolutely against privatizing custodial personnel and bus drivers. They were threatened once before and took a pay and benefit cut to keep their jobs. Now the school board wants to bonk them again. Shame on the school board. How about administrators taking another 5% cut and the teachers taking 5% cut. Lets keep our custodial and bus driver folks.
Scot Beaton
12:58 am on Friday, March 30, 2012
http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/hiring-issues-in-janitor-service-s-past/article_39ed5c0a-c9d7-5462-b9bc-f5b7b4a8c16f.html
District to use Tennessee company, even though it placed workers with criminal backgrounds in schools.
Posted: Sunday, June 6, 2010 By Liz Switzer
The Warren County Board of Education plans to retain the services of a national janitorial provider at the new South Warren Middle and High School despite that company’s record of placing workers with criminal backgrounds in schools - including drug and sex offenders.
The first incident in question involves a GCA employee working at Huntingdon (Tenn.) High School, who was charged with raping a 16-year-old student in a closet during school hours. The employee, after being arrested, was found to have a criminal record with charges of aggravated battery, assault and theft of property.
The second incident involved a GCA employee and registered sex offender who was working as a custodian at Chisholm Trail Middle School in Rhome, Texas, where he was found dead in a school locker room. The man, who had been convicted of indecent exposure in 2006, was found with his pants down and a bag over his head. Investigators determined the cause of death was accidental asphyxiation.
GCA Services Reviews
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/GCA-Services-Reviews-E137652.htm
Durham School Services Reviews
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Durham-School-Services-Reviews-E255363.htm
Scot Beaton
1:00 am on Friday, March 30, 2012
The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Rebecca
9:42 am on Thursday, April 5, 2012
A total answer to this problem is for "Our School Family" to take 5% or more across the board. But oh no, were going to attack the "Blue" group that gave up 25% of our wages plus alot mote benefits 3 yrs. ago to keep our job! At the time, most of us were glad to do this. Unbelievable that they would come after that same group again, knowing that we would all be making next to nothing to save another 3-4 million. I have attended RCS almost all my life and have been working for them for the past 12 yrs, and all I can think of or say is "disappointment". There are so many of us that lost houses, went thru bankruptcy and actually cancelled medical procedures just to keep the jobs that we love and now we feel like we've been punched in the gut. There is no way that a living can be made on the $10 - $12 dollars an hr that GCA Custodial is offering so RCS will loose many of the dedicated employees that have served the district so well over the years. I've always been extremely proud of the jobs we all have done in the district over the years but I guess that none of this means anything now:( except for the fact that we can go out with out heads held high, knowing we served the district to the very best of our ability. Signed- Very Disappointed:(