The Greenville Public School District in May held a board retreat, where the board members and administrators discussed their plans for the district.
Superintendent Janice Page-Johnson suggested trimming the budget to find new ways to save money for the district. Within the last few years, the district has spent $2.8 million on custodial maintenance.
One way to trim the budget was to outsource the custodial maintenance budget, and the company that provided the lowest bid for these services was ABM Contracting Services.
At Tuesday’s GPSD board meeting, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Glenn Dedeaux brought before the board more information about ABM and what services the company will be providing for the district.
ABM had a bid of $630,000 to do more of the repairs in house. As mentioned by Clark Brady, sales associate for ABM, the company will hire all GPSD maintenance employees if they pass their background checks and they will keep the same pay rate.
Employees with 20-plus years experience will be left in their current positions in order for them to continue to receive PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) benefits.
Members of the board expressed to Brady that more information needed to be provided before they made a decision. The board wanted a copy of the contract proposal and more information about the company as a whole, which they said was promised to them at their retreat.
“I was under the impression that when we met at the retreat, we would have more information about the company and the bid information upon our next meeting,” said Board Member Emanuel Edmond.
“With that amount of money that we may be saving, we need all details provided to ensure not only the board members but the district as well, of the money being used for this,” said Board Member Jan Vaughn.
Brady sent the proposal to two administrators but the information was not passed down to the board attorney, Dorian Turner.
“I need to see the contract and proposal in order to make sure everything is good and we can take the next steps with the company,” Turner said. “I only received the bid information. After I review the documents, all information will be given to the board for their decision.”
Edmond made the motion to table the topic until the board receives more information and Doris Thompson seconded it.
