THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 22, 1994 TAG: 9407220549
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
One day Russell G. Cason had a $5-an-hour job cleaning the school system's administration building.
The next day, with only a few hours' notice, the 73-year-old was out of work.
Cason's job was cut in a school system attempt to save money by contracting its custodial services to a private, Illinois-based firm called ServiceMaster. ServiceMaster has promised to save city schools nearly $900,000 over the next four years by reducing the number of full-time custodial positions.
By using better equipment and switching some of the remaining custodians from day to night shift, ServiceMaster says, it can provide better cleaning with fewer people.
But the new system has left people like Cason without jobs. Principals and teachers are worried that fewer custodians will mean less help with all the odd jobs that come up in schools. And ministers of some of the city's largest black churches are protesting ServiceMaster's involvement, saying the company has little regard for the people its policies hurt.
Some new School Board members also are raising questions. Board member Ulysses Van Spiva has asked the school system's attorney to check into the legality of the contract.
``We're losing good employees,'' board member Tim Jackson said.
``Much of the savings is on the backs of a sector of our work force that can afford it the least,'' said the Rev. Larry S. Hinton, pastor of the Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette said he stands behind his deal with ServiceMaster.
``I think it's a sound contract,'' he said.
Since the school system signed on with the company a little more than a year ago, Faucette has pledged that no permanent custodian would lose a job. The reduction in full-time custodial positions has been accomplished through attrition, he said.
People like Cason who have been laid off so far this year are from a pool of about 40 to 60 temporary workers who had no guarantee that their jobs would be permanent, Faucette said.
That's little comfort to Cason. He says he knew he was a substitute, but after a year and a half on the job, he figured he'd get some notice before he was let go.
A letter announcing his termination arrived in the mail around 11 a.m. July 14. He was asked not to report to work that evening. To make ends meet, he has taken on a temporary job cleaning public restrooms at the Oceanfront.
``If they had told me about a month ago, or something, I could have found something else,'' he said. ``But they just cut me off.''
In Norfolk, where the school system just concluded a five-year contract with ServiceMaster, principals and teachers have given the company high marks, schools spokesman George Raiss said.
But custodians have expressed concerns similar to the ones being raised in their neighboring city.
``There continues to be some controversy,'' Raiss said. ``Everything hasn't died down. There are still plenty of people in the school system who wish that we hadn't gone private.''
In Virginia Beach, custodians who remain on the job have complained that changing from day to night shift might force them to quit. Some have small children, second jobs or problems with transportation.
School officials and ServiceMaster representatives say they plan to grant exceptions to custodians who would endure extreme hardship by switching from day to night shift.
``We are working with the school administrators and with personnel and with the custodians to make that transition as easy as possible,'' said ServiceMaster spokeswoman Claire E. Buchan. ``We want to accommodate the custodians' schedules to the greatest extent possible.''
Substitute custodians also have been invited to sign up for other temporary jobs in the school system, Deputy Superintendent James L. Pughsley said.
``We're not interested in just discarding them, so to speak,'' Pughsley said.
Hinton said those measures may not be good enough.
``I would hope that we would go back and look at the contract,'' he said.
``You're talking about people who are almost always left out of the discussion. I think we have a moral responsibility to consider them.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CHARLIE MEADS/Staff
Russell G. Cason, 73, had a job as a substitute custodian with the
Virginia Beach school system until a private firm was hired to
handle custodial services. Cason received a letter telling him he
was laid off, as of the day he got the letter.
by CNB