Riverside-Brookfield High School will cut back a bit on custodial service to save from between $50,000 and $60,000 next school year by amending its contract with its maintenance firm.
The school has negotiated an agreement with Aramark Education to cut 2.5 positions from its cleaning crew. Aramark will eliminate a day shift “runner” position, a grounds/custodian position, and a part-time evening custodian position.
RBHS is expected to pay Aramark approximately $1,160,000 in the 2012-13 school year compared to the $1,210,000 it is shelling out this year. If current staffing levels were kept it place the school would pay about $90,000 more next year than it is paying this year.
“We felt we were able to reach a good agreement with Aramark where we were able to reduce the contract, and we were still going to be able to receive close to the services that we’ve always been receiving,” said District 208 Superintendent Kevin Skinkis.
Skinkis acknowledged that the cutbacks might be noticed.
“I think there’ll be some impact,” Skinkis said. “Some of the routes, the things that they service four times a day might only get serviced two times a day, in regards to some of the washrooms and the hallways.”
The cuts are part of a cost-cutting effort aimed at whittling down what had been projected to be $1.6 million operating deficit next year.
Skinkis also announced that Aramark is giving the district a $40,000 “investment grant” as the result of negotiations he had with an Aramark vice president.
A previous contract with Aramark called for the district to pay up to $9,500 a year for hiring an additional non-Aramark custodian to work on outdoor grounds.
But eventually another Aramark employee was hired and billed to RBHS instead of using a part-time, non-Aramark employee. But the contract was never amended.
“We were paying for some services that we never received,” Skinkis said. “There was nothing in writing from the previous administration of the high school or Aramark that showed there was an agreement to hire an additional employee.”
Skinkis negotiated the deal with Aramark Education Vice-President of Operations Tim Waldsmith, who came up from St. Louis to meet with Skinkis to discuss the issue.
“It was just more or less a technicality,” Skinkis said. “They have given some breaks on [rate increases] the last few years, so they felt that should offset the cost, so we reached an agreement that $40,000 would be used to give back to the school to be used for school improvements.”
The $40,000 will probably be used for projects around the school.
