The Columbus Municipal School District will soon be hiring additional employees to handle nutrition and grounds maintenance.
During a special meeting of the school board Tuesday night, board members voted 3-1 to reject two bids pertaining to nutrition and grounds maintenance, voting instead to provide the services in-house.
Three companies were recommended to combine to provide grounds maintenance: BAM, LLC, Grass Masters and Robinson Lawn Service. The total cost to the district would have been $106,200 for the 2013-2014 school year. Aramark was recommended to handle district nutrition management at a bid of $94,258 per year.
Assistant Superintendent Craig Shannon said the board’s decision to reject the bids means employees will have to be hired quickly to meet the demands of the district.
“Recommendations will be made to the board to hire people soon,” Shannon said.
CMSD currently has 90 acres that have to be landscaped and maintained. Currently, the district has one full-time grounds-keeper. To help lessen the burden, custodians have been maintaining the grounds in addition to their duties inside the schools. Shannon said he hoped to hire four to seven employees to perform the grounds work.
Board member Jason Spears said he voted to reject the bid for contracted grounds-keepers because he felt it was too expensive.
“My reason for rejecting the grounds bid is because I believe they were too high. They exceed what we already have been allocating for those services in-house.”
Spears said by doing an analysis of the service and possibly repairing equipment, he believes the district will save money in the long run.
“That might be a little more cost effective,” he said.
Spears said he also voted to reject the Aramark contract because he felt they failed to meet a need board members have been asking for during the past year.
In the past, board members have expressed concern that some children in the district go hungry between the time they leave school and arrive the next day. Board members have repeatedly asked if Aramark could prepare a cost analysis of what it would cost the district to send children home with a “backpack snack” each day. Spears said Aramark failed to address that issue in their bid proposal.
“They did not include a critical part of what the board has been asking for,” Spears said. “It was missing a key part of the proposal which was to institute a backpack snack for the students of the school district.”
Shannon said the district will now handle all nutrition issues — including managing the food service department. He estimated hiring eight to 10 employees to handle food service. Aramark’s four-year contract with the district ends June 30. Shannon said those employees who were currently employed with Aramark would be eligible to be hired within the district.
Board member Aubra Turner said she voted to reject both bids and keep the services in-house to save the district money.
“I felt that it would be in the best interest of our district and employees to bring back our food and grounds service in-house. It’s been done in the past and I don’t see why it can’t be done again,” she said.
However, Shannon said keeping the tasks in-house will actually cost the district money. To perform grounds maintenance in-house, CMSD will now have to buy additional equipment. By getting rid of Aramark, the district will incur additional fees due to employee benefits.
“That’s going to be a cost that the district has to incur,” he said.
Currently, Aramark bills the district for their workers but covers their health insurance and benefits. Now that those workers will be CMSD personnel, the district will be responsible for providing their benefits.
“What we pay the Aramark employees is less than what we would pay them if they were district employees because of the fringe benefits,” Shannon said.
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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