Many outraged over janitors' overtime

WATERBURY, CT — Many members of the Waterbury Board of Education are outraged and curious about how some Waterbury Public Schools' custodians more than doubled their salaries by putting in upwards of 2,000 hours of overtime last year, according to the Republican-American.

Thirty-two custodial and maintenance staff put in for more than 500 hours of overtime in the past year, the story stated.

According to records released by the school, John Laforme, a custodial supervisor at Rotella Interdistrict Magnet School, made $82,161.04 last year, of which $51,296.48 was paid for 2,138 hours of overtime.

Board member Paul D'Angelo said: "We have serious management shortcomings within the department and people seem to be willing to turn a blind eye to it."

Board members responded to the "outrageous and disgraceful" clocking of overtime by asking for details of any overtime requests of more than 400 hours per year, the story noted.

Some see the high number of overtime hours as normal and necessary because many of the schools are open more than 12 hours a day and the district was short 15 custodians last year, the story added.