Schools
Lake Orion School Board Looks Into Privatizing Custodial Staff
Wednesday night the school board decided to move ahead with a Request for Proposals for privatizing the custodial staff.
The agreed Wednesday to consider proposals for privatizing custodial staff at Lake Orion Community Schools.
The board discussed at length a , which has been in the works since the beginning of the school year. The RFP, which will allow for vendors specializing in custodial staff to submit bids for services beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, is now in its second draft. A presentation was delivered at the board meeting, held at the schools’ administration building, outlining a few pros and cons associated with privatizing the custodial staff.
According to reports presented at the meeting by John Fitzgerald, assistant superintendent of business and finance for the district, other comparable Oakland County schools that have chosen to privatize their custodial staff have saved 30 percent to 50 percent of the costs associated with the positions. As of the last contract with the current Lake Orion schools staff including wages and fringe benefits, that could save the district between $1 million and $1.69 million if the 30 percent to 50 percent savings projection is accurate.
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“The custodians in our buildings are doing a lot more than just cleaning services…so, I don’t want to be misled by numbers and consultants,” board member Melissa Miller said. “That’s the reason why I would support to go out (and get bids) to actually confirm what savings are going to be – it’s the only opportunity to really consider if it’s the direction the board wants to go.”
The majority of the board members, aside from member Connie Meech, agreed to continue to move forward with the RFP. The item was not formally voted on at this time.
Find out what's happening in Oakland Township-Lake Orionwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“My position is to do as much as we can to just get ready to go but to actually pull the trigger on it I would say wait,” Meech said.
Other members noted that they need to see the actual bids coming in before they can decide if privatizing is the right decision or not. Treasurer Jim Weidman and trustee Steven Drakos said it is their "fiduciary responsibility" to do the research if an extra $1 million could be available to go toward educating Lake Orion Community Schools students.
The RFP will be sent out as soon as it is finalized.
