Talawanda Schools Considering Future Of Staff Custodians

BY MADDIE TOOLE
Miami University journalism student

When the Talawanda School District opened its two newest buildings -- Talawanda High
School and Kramer Elementary -- it outsourced cleaning duties to Mid American Cleaning Company (MACC) and reduced the number of custodians on its own payroll.

Next month, it will revisit the issue and decide whether to continue utilizing outside janitors.

At its March 27 meeting, the school district's Board of Education requested a proposal for a new cleaning
company, with the contract between MACC and the school district set to end June 30.

Board members did not move forward on that request, however, with four of the five calling for more discussion. That was scheduled to happen last week at a May 17 work session.

The board of originally outsourced cleaning duties to MACC in 2012, when it opened the new Talawanda High School building just south of Miami University off Hwy. 27. MACC picked up additional work at Kramer when that new building opened in 2017.

In total, in that time, 12 custodial positions have been eliminated from the Talawanda payroll. Prior to 2012,
25 custodians cleaned four buildings. Currently, 13 custodians are employed by the district to
clean three buildings.

To this point, TSD has not laid off any of its staff custodians. Instead, it eliminated positions as custodians reached retirement age and then shifted work to Mid American Cleaning.

Meade support district hires

Pat Meade, Talawanda Board of Education member since the beginning of this year, says one of the reasons he ran for school board was to bring back district-employed custodians.

“Institutions go for the people at the bottom of the economic rung,” Meade said. “They should
not balance the budget on the backs of the people at the bottom.”

Meade believes that outsourcing custodial work is not beneficial to the local economy. In a memo posted on the Oxford Underground Facebook Page, Meade expressed his concerns about costs.

“The district claims it will save in the neighborhood of $40,000 with this move, ” Meade said in
the post and confirmed in an interview.

Meade believes that the school district has significant reserves of funds.

Wright speaks to board

President of Talawanda Classified Staff Association, Brenda Wright, addressed the board at the March 27 meeting and emotionally urged the board to reinstate the eliminated positions.

“Jobs need to pay a decent wage in order for people to stay,” Wright said. “The MACC employees are paid for this position for a while until they find something else, something better.”

An entry-level employee at Mid American Cleaning Company earns $9.06 per hour. Most MACC work part-time, approximately 20 to 30 hours a week.

Talawanda pays its custodians based upon experience, following a four-step pay scale. The lowest pay is $13.89 an hour, with 43 or 44 cents more per hour at the next steps and maximum pay of $17.78 per hour. Each Talawanda employee is guaranteed eight hours a day and 259 paid days per year of work.

The Talawanda employees begin to take pride in their work, Wright said. By contrast, during
one recent week, MACC hired and sent four different employees on four different days to do the same
job, says Wright. This high turnover rate creates issues for the staff and students.

Security at issue

“High turnover is a big problem for school security,” Wright said. “With school district custodians, the kids and staff know them. But we don’t have that opportunity with the cleaning company.”

Meade echoes Wright’s worry about security.

“This is a school safety issue. With Talawanda employees, you know exactly who is supposed to be in the building. But, we do not know the [MACC] people due to high turnover,” Meade said.

Additionally, some parents have complained about cleanliness in the schools.

Jason Merz, principal at Kramer Elementary, has seen the effects of poor cleaning first-hand. “We have a brand new building with brand new materials, but it just doesn’t look good,” he said.

Since custodial work was outsourced at Talawanda High School, Wright, a secretary in the school's Media Center, has had to dust and wash tables because MACC employees rarely do so.

“If you look in the corners, there are years worth of dust and dirt,” Wright said.

MACC executives did not return multiple calls for comment.

Service to students

Matthew Lykins, president of the Talawanda Educators Association, supports the Classified Staff Association and hopes that the janitorial positions will be restored at Kramer and the high school.

“It’s always tough when people you have made a connection with are not hired or are removed or replaced,” Lykins said. “It also weakens the association.”

One district-employed custodian has been known to come into work early to read to preschoolers.

“People hired by the district form an attachment to a certain building and make a stronger
commitment to the students,” Lykins said.

With construction of the new Marshall Elementary underway, community members and district employees worry that its cleaning staff will be outsourced.

Now is the perfect time to discuss placing Talawanda-employed custodians back into all buildings, as the MACC contract comes to an end, Meade noted.

Added Wright: “The outsourcing hurts morale. It is eroding our trust in order to save money. Many worry: is my job next on the chopping block?”

Top photo: Pat Meade believes good management in the district will create good custodians in each building. -- Photo by Maddie Toole