26 School Custodians Laid Off Pending Privatization

The North Kingstown School Committee made significant changes to its support staff at a special meeting Monday night, rejecting the and laying off its entire custodial staff in anticipation of privatizing the positions.

Twenty-six custodial positions were terminated in a 5-1 vote, with Melvoid Benson opposing. (Bill Mudge left the meeting after his motion to accept the arbitrator’s award for the ESP contract was shot down 5-2.) The committee voted to award a bid to GCA to privatize the district’s custodial department and will plan to award the contract at its meeting Tuesday night. Though the staff got the axe, GCA has made a verbal agreement to hire all of North Kingstown’s current custodians as long as they pass a BCI check. The custodians will be rehired at the company’s “enhanced wage.”

The committee also moved to reject the ESP contract and made substantial changes to its support staffing. Though the committee agreed 4-2 (Benson and Dick Welch opposing) to grant the paraprofessionals a one-percent pay increase (up from the superintendent’s recommendation to freeze salaries), it also eliminated life insurance for ESP, cut three sick days and one personal day and established new buyback rates for employees who opted out of health care. (Those new rates are now $2,500 for family and $1,200 for individuals.)

Employees who work fewer than 30 hours per work will no longer be eligible to receive health care through the school department. (Formerly, the cutoff was 20 hours.) The committee also authorized the hiring of 12 part-time employees to replace six full-time positions – a move that will save the district approximately $198,000.

Superintendent Phil Auger’s original recommendations for cuts to ESP would have saved the school department nearly $600,000. Due to changes to the recommendations by committee members (including the one-percent pay raise and decision to raise health care cost share to 15 percent instead of 20), the committee will need to make $215,000 worth of cuts at its Tuesday night meeting in order to balance the fiscal 2012 budget before June 30 when the budget years ends.

Check back later for our full story on Monday night’s meeting, including comments from citizens and ESP employees.