As more and more public school districts
across Michigan turn to competitive
contracting as a way to save on costs and
spend more dollars on education, the reactions
by those opposed to it become more
negative.
Accusations ranging from poor performance
and putting children in danger to
claims that private company employees are
outsiders or illegal immigrants have sprung
up at school board meetings and union rallies
across Michigan this year.
Last May, The Detroit News reported
that David Murray, a member of the Detroit
Public Schools board of education, filed a
police report over what he perceived to be
threats of violence on a radio call-in show.
The comments came after the DPS board
voted to sign a $21.7 million contract for
food services with a private company. Aramark,
which won the contract, bested other
offers, including one from the union that
had been overseeing the operation.
In April, at a Michigan Education
Association union rally to protest the
privatization of custodial services in the
Reeths-Puffer schools, state Rep. Doug
Bennett, D-Muskegon, was overheard telling
Kathie Oakes of the MEA, “We all know
what’s going to happen — they are going to
hire illegal immigrants to fill the jobs,” The
Muskegon Chronicle reported.
“When we try to discuss this, we’re
met with an emotional outburst,” said Jason
Church, a school board member in Perry.
“We’re told we’re evil, we have no morals.
There’s nothing constructive there.”
Church said the Perry schools, near
Lansing, have been discussing competitive
contracting for custodial services. The discussion
is often met by claims that janitors
from a private company are “outsiders and
low lifes,” have “criminal backgrounds”
and would be a “danger to the children,”
Church said.
“This really doesn’t make any sense,”
Church said. “Half of our entire staff lives
outside the district. Just because someone
lives 20 minutes away makes them a bad
person?”
While privatization opponents say that
public school employees care more about
students, or that non-school employees
would pose some type of danger, it was
revealed earlier in the summer that a Michigan
State Police background check found
almost 470 public school employees with
felony conviction records, including 56
teachers. Charges ranged from stalking to
larceny to drunk driving. Those found with
felony sex crime convictions were immediately
fired as per a 2005 “student safety”
package of new laws.
Rick Simpson, a regional sales director
with Chartwells Food Service, said most
companies had stricter hiring guidelines
than the state did for public schools up until
the adoption of a new state law last fall aimed
at increasing student safety.
“We did drug testing, fingerprinting,
background checks, everything,” Simpson
said. “We don’t hire people with felony
convictions.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a school or a
private firm, people need to remember we all
dip our buckets into the same well of applicants,”
said John Markey, vice president of
Educlean Services. “The difference is what
you do after you draw up that bucket.”
Markey said his company puts employees
through a rigorous background check
that includes fingerprinting and personality
testing. Educlean’s insurance coverage
includes not only liability, but also theft,
mysterious loss and third-party indemnity.
“A policy for mysterious loss can be
better than bonding, because a bond will
generally only pay out when there’s a conviction,”
Markey said. “With mysterious
loss, if say, a laptop computer turns up missing
while we’re in the building, the claim is
paid because of the loss, not a conviction.”
Third-party indemnity covers property
or equipment that are considered in the
“care, custody and control” of the company’s
personnel.
“If someone trips over an extension
cord we’re using for a floor buffer, that
covers it,” Markey said. “It’s specifically
written in that way.”
Church said another roadblock people
use when fighting against competitive contracting
is the question of a track record.
They say privatization is one thing, but
what if it doesn’t work,” Church said.
According to a 2005 privatization survey
by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
35.5 percent of the 552 districts surveyed
privatize at least one of three major noninstructional
services – custodial, transportation
or food services. That was up from 34
percent in 2003, even though 27 districts
brought some service back in-house after it
had been privatized two years earlier.
“A lot of people think of it in terms of
proposals and contracts, when they’re really
partnerships,” Markey said. “We used to
always want to be the first one (contractor)
in, but not any more. Being the first one in
means you take all the heat. Being the second
one in is much easier.”
Markey said one way to reduce problems
with competitive contracting is for
school boards to be as specific as they can be
in issuing RFPs (Requests for Proposals).
“There are companies that are certified
and there are associations for these
kinds of firms,” he said. “The school board
should make sure about the level of insurance
a company has. They can request the
background checks, drug testing, things
like that.”
Simpson said people who oppose privatization
should remember that the companies
are driven by performance.
“It’s not easy to terminate an employee
who works for a school district, but it is easy
to terminate a contract,” he said. “All of our
contracts have 60-day cancellation clauses.
Knowing you can lose all your business in 60
days is pretty good motivation to hire people
you can trust and depend on.”