THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409220165
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
The School Board on Tuesday night hammered out the details of severing ties with ServiceMaster, an Illinois-based business that handles the school system's custodial services.
After much discussion, the board voted 6-5 to approve a deal negotiated by Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette and his staff to cut ServiceMaster's contract from five to three years.
Under the deal, ServiceMaster will continue managing custodians until Jan. 1. After that, the school system will take over and hire a director of custodial services, but will continue to pay ServiceMaster for equipment, supplies and three ServiceMaster employees - an equipment trainer, an equipment technician and an office clerk. Those dealings with ServiceMaster will end in August 1996.
A committee of custodians and administrators is helping iron out the transition.
School officials, looking to cut costs by hiring a private custodial service, last year signed the five-year contract with the company.
But the School Board, prompted by a storm of protest from custodians and the Virginia Beach Education Association, changed its mind last month. Custodians and the teachers' association were angry that ServiceMaster was cutting costs by eliminating jobs, and by shifting many day workers to the night shift.
ServiceMaster and Superintendent Faucette said employee cuts would come through attrition, not the firing of permanent full-time workers. But many long-term substitutes were let go. And many full-time custodians complained of hardships from the change in shifts.
The board voted in July to get out of the contract.
Custodians and Virginia Beach Education Association President Vickie J. Hendley said Tuesday they were disappointed that the contract would not be terminated sooner than August 1996.
But negotiations to end the contract were not easy.
A ServiceMaster official threatened a $2.5 million lawsuit against the school system if the company was not satisfied with the terms.
Some board members bristled at the threat.
``I didn't get elected to have him or anyone else hold this board hostage,'' said Ulysses Van Spiva, one of three board members to oppose the deal. ``I would say to him, and I hope he's listening, `Here comes the judge.' We're going to court, as far as I'm concerned.
``I won't be happy with this whole thing . . . until ServiceMaster is out of here.''
Charles W. Vincent and Tim Jackson also voted against the proposed deal.
Most other board members, however, did not agree that a lawsuit was the way to go.
``For every dollar spent'' on legal fees and court judgments, said Elsie M. Barnes, ``that's another dollar that cannot be spent on our students.''
``I was pleased with the agreement,'' said board member Susan L. Creamer. ``It is never easy to break a contract.''
School officials emphasized that after Jan. 1, ServiceMaster would no longer be in charge of the custodial system. The three ServiceMaster employees will have no supervisory authority. The director of custodial services and all supervisory positions will be filled from within the school system's ranks.
Still, Hendley said, many custodians are uneasy that ServiceMaster will be allowed to linger in any form, because of the stress they have felt during the past year of ServiceMaster management.
``They have had to deal daily with the fear of losing their jobs and their livelihoods,'' Hendley said.
``We don't need ServiceMaster,'' said J.J. Jones, a custodian at Strawbridge Elementary. ``We can do it ourselves.'' by CNB