There are 25 Malden school custodians, most of whom live in Malden and nearby communities. Base pay ranges between $900 and $982 per week with health insurance, pension, sick time, vacation and holidays. These are full-time jobs with good wages and benefits!
For a number of years management has claimed that the custodians are doing a poor job of keeping the schools clean. Management believes that the custodians are not performing their assigned duties.
In meetings with the custodians and their union, the mayor and the superintendent of schools have proposed out-sourcing the school custodian jobs to a private contractor.
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The custodians have said that if management is dissatisfied with the work that the custodians are doing, it should use progressive discipline to deal with the problem. Yet after three years, only one custodian has been written up and no performance reviews have been done. This is a failure by management to do its job.
In fact, a Malden School Cleanliness Report prepared by the city in 2012 said:
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"No system wide standards or documentation exist to ensure certain cleaning tasks are done…"
and
"No real management oversight exists; formal reviews are not done as required by the contract, discipline is nonexistent and job descriptions, while called for in the next contract, were never written."
and
"The lack of dedicated management oversight means no staff meetings take place, and effective communication is nonexistent." [1]
The school department has yet to properly manage the work and provide adequate staffing to get the school custodial job properly done. Out-sourcing the school custodians' jobs to a low paid contractor from outside the City of Malden is not the solution!
Support good jobs in Malden! Tell the Superintendent and the Mayor: "Don't Outsource Good Malden Jobs!"Gary Christenson, Mayor, City of Malden
200 Pleasant Street, Room 629
Malden, MA 02148
Phone: 781-397-7000
Fax: 781-397-7073
mayor@cityofmalden.org
Dr. David DeRuosi, Jr., Ed. D.
Superintendent of Malden Schools
200 Pleasant Street Room 109
Malden, MA 02148
Phone: 781-397-7204
Fax: 781-397-7276
dderuosi@malden.mec.edu
[1] City of Malden Task Force Report On Public School Cleaning , April 16, 2012 https://imageserv3.team-logic.com/mediaLibrary/181/PublicSchoolCleaning_1.pdf
