WEST WINDSOR, NJ — In an effort to reduce a $2.75 million budget gap, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District is looking to outsource its 125 custodial and maintenance positions, according to the Times of Trenton.
By contracting a third-party firm to provide the district with maintenance and custodial services, it could save money from not having to maintain its own staff and the requisite payroll and benefit costs associated with it, the story stated.
According to the story, many local residents are upset that the district would, even with a budget deficit looming, consider outsourcing the positions and placing "strangers" in their schools.
Some in the community, including district staff, are concerned that outsourcing custodial and maintenance positions will lead to a downgrade in quality that will adversely affect the district's facilities and their occupants, the story noted.
West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Board of Education President Hemant Marathe said: "There are jobs at stake. I fully understand why people are having this kind of reaction. We are happy with the service [our current employees] are providing us, people don't seem to raise concerns about strangers coming into our district with them. Every person when you hire them is a stranger at first. Does that mean you can't hire anybody?"
The district has recently privatized school bus transportation and food service, and proponents of outsourcing feel privatizing district custodial and maintenance positions is a logical cost-saving measure, the story added.
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