THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409270142
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: E10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
If fine details in contract negotiations can be ironed out, Norfolk public schools will be cleaned this year by Marriott Management Services Corp.
After more than an hour in closed session, the School Board voted unanimously last week to authorize Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. to sign an agreement with Marriott - if both parties accept suggested contract revisions.
An agreement with Marriott, headquartered in Newark, Del., would end a five-year relationship with Chicago-based ServiceMaster.
In hopes of saving money, the School Board in 1989 hired ServiceMaster as the first private company to manage its custodial operations. An in-house audit released last month, however, raised questions about whether the ServiceMaster contract had resulted in any real savings.
School officials held details of the proposed Marriott contract close to the vest, concerned that premature release would harm negotiations. If the agreement is approved, Nichols said he hoped Marriott could begin work Nov. 1. In the interim, the school system will continue to work with ServiceMaster, Nichols said.
Nichols said he anticipated savings of $400,000 to $500,000 from what had been budgeted for cleaning services in 1994-95.
In the 1993-94 school year, Norfolk schools paid ServiceMaster about $1.2 million. Nichols said he expected the Marriott contract to cost less than $800,000.
School officials say they'd like to use any savings to air-condition more schools. Officials estimate they could air-condition two schools with $400,000. The City Council, however, would have to give its blessing for the school system to divert surplus funds, school officials said.
Marriott offered to do the job for less money than ServiceMaster or Hampton Roads-based E.L. Hamm & Associates.
``We were not dissatisfied with the services that ServiceMaster was providing us,'' Nichols said. ``We were satisfied with the cleanliness of our schools. It just came down to putting more money into the classrooms and less into other areas.''
Nichols said the school system's custodial staff may be trimmed. Part-time employees most likely would be the ones affected.
``That's the way you save money in that business - you do the job more efficiently and with fewer people,'' he said.
Under the contract, custodians would remain employees of the school system but their work would be directed by Marriott. The arrangement was similar with ServiceMaster.
Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers, said custodians represented by her organization are worried about possible job cuts under Marriott. But many custodians also were unhappy under ServiceMaster.
``Before ServiceMaster came in, we didn't represent custodial people,'' Flickinger said. ``When ServiceMaster came in they sought us out.''
Nichols said the Marriott contract would run for three years with an option for two more. School officials have not ruled out the option of eventually returning to in-house management of custodial services.
KEYWORDS: CLEANING SERVICES NORFOLK PUBLIC SCHOOLS by CNB