Wachusett Superintendent To Cut Teachers Over Custodians

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Sandy Meindersma, GoLocalWorcester Reporter

Wachusett Regional Superintendent Thomas Pandiscio is defending his decision to continue to spend nearly $3 million in salary and benefits on custodians, and said he would keep his custodial staff intact while cutting teachers, assistant principals, athletics and student activities if the $80 million budget request fails.

Pandiscio’s proposed $80.3 million budget was passed by the Wachusett Regional School District Committee on March 26, but has been receiving pushback from the five towns in the district who say that they cannot afford the $3.4 million increase the fiscal 2013 is requiring.

Pandiscio’s budget website states that $63.1 million of the district budget would be allocated to salaries, but another slide in that same presentation indicates the custodial salaries and expenses are outside of the personnel line item.

GoLocalWorcester uncovered and reported the fact that the district spent $2.3 million in custodial salaries for fiscal 2011, and through an information request, has learned that the fiscal 2012 figures include $2,245,621 in salaries and $472, 148.85 in benefits (health, life and disability insurance).

Custodial Staffing and Expenses

“The state average for custodial services is $362.47,” Pandiscio said. “Wachusett spends $351.57. I believe we actually spend an efficient amount - the only school district that spends less than us is Worcester.

“Despite the fact that the district has the lowest regional per pupil expenditure in the state, it takes its responsibility of custodial stewardship of the buildings very seriously.”

The district employs 57 full-time and five part-time custodians throughout the district, including 18 full time and two part time custodians at the 412,000 square foot building. The highest paid custodian is the night supervisor at the high school, Steven McRell. McRell earns $54,729.93, plus benefits. Mark Gannon, a half-time custodian at the Thomas Prince School earns $15,534.60.

Buildings Well Maintained

In his response to GoLocalWorcester’s information request, Pandiscio wrote “Wachusett actually spends hundreds of thousands of dollars below the state average on custodial services. That is our clean little secret… Our buildings are in top-notch shape and are kept there at a bargain to our taxpayers.”

“We’re not doing anything wrong,” he said. “Custodial services are based on square footage. Custodians at the high school are responsible for 37,000 square feet and in the other schools, it’s about 22,000 square feet."

The custodians at the high school are responsible for the building and grounds, which include several acres of athletic fields, while the athletic fields at the other district schools are maintained by the towns.

That being said, Pandiscio said he has not been able to find an industry standard to correlate custodial responsibilities and square footage of a building.

“But it’s like having someone clean eight 3000 square foot homes in a day,” he said. “It doesn’t seem excessive.”

Three Daytime Custodians at Shrewsbury High

Todd Bazydlo, principal at Shrewsbury High School, said his school has one plant manager, and two full time custodians in his budget, but one is out on leave. There is also a contracted night cleaning crew. The town’s Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for the athletic fields and the town contracts out the grounds maintenance.

“Our building is 280,000 square feet, and we have close to 2000 people in here every day,” Bazydlo said. “The plant manager is stepping in and helping out, but there is definitely a need for more staff during the day.”

Community Weighs In

Robert Becker, president of the Wachusett Regional Education Association, said he did not have a frame of reference as to whether or not the number of custodians was reasonable or not.

“Having worked in the high school for 25 years, I don’t see the custodians sitting around with nothing to do,” Becker said. “I represent 540 educators, but in my opinion, cutting a custodian or two comes with a trade off.

Michael Pantos, a parent of two children in the district and a selectman in Rutland, said he did not like hearing that custodians were being protected at the expense of teachers.

“Why cut teachers?” he asked. “To me, that makes no sense. Why not cut what affects our students indirectly before cutting teachers? Teachers are the most valuable asset in the school setting. Why not look to subcontract out the janitorial services?”

Rutland parent and Finance Committee Chairman Lyndon Nichols agreed. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’d like to know his (Pandiscio’s) reasoning.

Next Steps for Budget

The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday, April 30 for a regular meeting, and while the budget is expected to be discussed, no agenda has been posted. The towns will each have their say on the budget as part of their annual town meetings, which begin in Paxton on May 7, followed by Sterling on May 14, Princeton on May 15, Rutland on May 19 and Holden on May 21. Both Paxton and Rutland have override questions on their annual town election ballots, in order to fund their portions of the school district assessment.

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