SOUTH BEND — The South Bend school corporation is moving forward this month with efforts to outsource district maintenance and custodial services.
The South Bend school board first gave administrators the greenlight to seek proposals from interested vendors in August after corporation leaders described departments stretched thin because of staffing shortages, coronavirus demands and deferred maintenance projects.
Companies submitted their proposals to the district in late September and, after a series of virtual presentations, administrators brought one vendor back to the school board — Knoxville, Tennessee-based SSC Services for Education — for their consideration.
The school board gave administrators approval this month to pursue a contract with SSC, but the decision hasn’t been received warmly by everyone.
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Multiple school board members, along with the union representing maintenance and custodial workers, have repeatedly called on the district to take a step back from outsourcing. Board member Jeanette McCullough said in a recent school board meeting that she’s heard “nothing but problems and complaints” about other services outsourced by the district.
Superintendent Todd Cummings said in that meeting that the practice puts the district in a position to be fiscally responsible as it cuts costs to sustain revenue lost to tax caps and negotiates raises for teachers. Talks with teachers entered mediation in mid-November.
“Outsourcing departments where there is an opportunity to earn savings, and through work that’s not focused in the classroom, is a priority,” Cummings said. “We are going to have to make sure that we are as efficient and lean as possible in order to pay for big salary increases and ensure that the district is financially sustainable going forward.”
What services are being outsourced?
Administrators in multiple board meetings have described understaffed departments overwhelmed with deferred maintenance, coronavirus cleaning and safety, and new projects financed by the district’s $220 million referendum.
“Right now, you have building principals managing custodians,” said Kareemah Fowler, the district’s assistant superintendent of business and finance. “And then you also have the people that are doing the work … saying ‘hey, we’re tapped out. We are at a crossroads and we need help.’”
Contract terms are still being determined, but administrators say they would like to give custodial services, plant operation, maintenance and grounds and facility management to SSC.
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In its request for proposals, South Bend asked vendors to provide costs for two scenarios; employees are retained by the vendor or employees are retained in combination between the vendor and South Bend schools.
South Bend currently employs 154 staff, according to a Nov. 15 school board presentation. Of those 154 employees, 81 are at least 55 years old, two dozen are between the ages of 45 and 54, and 49 are between 20 and 44 years old.
Many of those employees are veterans of the district. Seventy sixhave been with South Bend schools for at least 10 years, 38 have for five to nine years and 40 for fewer than five years.
Fowler said in August that South Bend was short 34 positions due largely to reductions made before the corporation’s referendum passed, and said that 38 staff have retired in recent years with more expected.
“It puts us in a better position to have experts who do the work come in and help us so that we can put our attention back in the classroom where it belongs,” Fowler said.
Why select SSC?
Four companies submitted proposals to provide services to South Bend schools.
A committee of school board members, principals, administrators, legal representation andcustodians and engineers heard presentations from each and scored the companies on their reputation, their commitment to diversity and inclusion, their employee packages, their management structure and overall value.
Committee members also considered short-term cost savings, minority- and women-owned business incentives provided by the companies, employee relations and proposals for transitioning services.
SSC received high marks for its overall value, company culture and history of district demographics serviced, Fowler said during herNov. 15 school board presentation. SSC’s proposal included a diverse hiring commitment and training and apprenticeship opportunities with a pledge to hire five students per year, she said.
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SSC’s estimated total costs — one for if the company were to employ all staff and another for if a combination of staff were employed by both the company and the school district — fell in the middle of submitted proposals.
SSC said it would charge $13.9 million if employees were retained by both the company and South Bend schools, and $18.3 million if staff were entirely employed by SSC, according to the school board presentation.
The company also said it would put forward $500,000 annually toward deferred maintenance projects in the district as well as a packaged inventory management system that Fowler said would save the school corporation $400,000 for the purchase of its own system.
What do employees, the board think?
AFSCME Local 686 — the union representing South Bend’s maintenance, custodial and grounds staff — has bristled against proposals to outsource their teams’ work. Some school board members have also questioned the efforts after the South Bend district outsourced its food services program in September 2019.
Mozell Bowens, president of the union, in two public meetings has expressed frustration with administrators’ characterization of understaffed departments, questioning how far the district has gone to post and advertise openings. Bowens said he and other members of the union were denied placement on the committee convened to review and select vendors for potential contract negotiations.
McCullough, who has vocally opposed outsourcing district positions, said she also was not on the committee.
“When I walk into the schools, and I’ve been doing school visits, everything is spick and span and clean,” McCullough said Nov. 15. “I don’t understand where we’re coming up with ‘the schools aren’t clean, they’re filthy.’”
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Bowens said he fears some district leaders are focusing only on a small minority of employees who may not be fulfilling their work responsibilities.
“These men and women go out there every day and go to work,” Bowens said. “Now, you have the 5 or 10% that don’t, but we seem to be focusing on them instead of the 90 to 95% that do.”
Fowler said the district is hiring positions, but the process has turned into a “continuous cycle” of bringing on new staff only to see some quit shortly after.
“They do a great job. We don’t have enough of them,” Fowler said, adding later, “We just hired people and the next day two of them resigned.”
Ruth Warren, a board member who has supported taking the next steps toward contract negotiation, said exploring outsourcing serves two goals; ensuring buildings are clean and taking care of employees.
“We don’t want to leave our employees hanging high and dry and it appears to me from this proposal that they might actually benefit,” she said. “Especially, it seems, in the health benefits and retirement package.”
What happens next?
The South Bend school board voted 5-2 in its Nov. 15 meeting to allow administrators to pursue contract negotiations with SSC. McCullough and board member Oletha Jones voted no.
Administrators are still working on details, including negotiating pay and benefits aligned with employees’ current collective bargaining agreement, and determining which staff will be retained by the district and who will work for the company.
District leaders are expected to bring a finalized contract back to the school board for a vote on Dec. 6.
Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.
