Recently in Schools K-12 Category

Source: By JOAO FERREIRA, Standard-Times (MA), May 26, 2006

FAIRHAVEN — Sodexho's often tumultuous tenure as the Fairhaven public schools food service provider is coming to an end. The food service giant opted out of a five-year contract with the town after the School Committee sent the company a letter on March 16, indicating that it might not exercise its option for renewal. ..... In December, students at the Leroy L. Wood Elementary School boycotted the Sodexho prepared lunch, complaining about cold food, sour milk and often uncooked items.

Source: Grand Rapids Press (MI), Tuesday, May 23, 2006

KENOWA HILLS -- The district's substitute teachers will be privatized after the school board Monday voted 6-0 to join the Kent Intermediate School District's substitute teacher services. The plan would save the district $33,000 a year by cutting retirement costs.

Source: By LETITIA STEIN and STEVE BOUSQUET, St Petersburg Times (FL), May 2, 2006

TALLAHASSEE -- Four Republican senators delivered a crushing political defeat to Gov. Jeb Bush Monday by refusing to ask voters to rescind a recent court decision that struck down some private-school vouchers. In denying Bush his top legislative priority as he prepares to leave office, the GOP defections produced a stunning victory for Democrats and the state teachers union. The vote all but kills any chance that a voucher question will appear on the November ballot.

Source: By Dave Murray, The Grand Rapids Press (MI), Tuesday, May 02, 2006

GRAND RAPIDS -- A divided Board of Education voted to privatize substitute teachers over the objections that the selected company has no experience in the field and was hired in a no-bid process. But others said the potential $300,000 in savings was enough to overlook Monday's admittedly "muddied" process to hire the Caledonia-based Professional Educational Services Group to oversee the hiring and scheduling of about 2,600 substitute teachers countywide. ...... Under the deal, substitute teachers will be paid at the same $85-a-day rate, but will become PESG employees. The company will not have to pay into the state retirement system, saving money for the school districts.

Source: By Dave Murray, The Grand Rapids Press (MI), Tuesday, April 18, 2006

GRAND RAPIDS -- A plan to privatize substitute teachers was rejected after Board of Education members said they did not have assurances that companies owned by minorities had a chance to bid on the contract. ...... Administrators said the district would save $250,000 to $300,000 a year because it could avoid paying into the state retirement system since the substitutes technically would be private employees. ...... Board members said they objected for a variety of reasons, including that the savings weren't enough to offset losing control of their substitute teachers.

Source: By Susan Snyder, Philadelphia Inquirer, Thu, Apr. 20, 2006

...... Also at yesterday's commission meeting, workers who belong to the union representing janitors and bus attendants criticized the district for hiring a private firm to run custodial services in 14 schools. Michael McGinley, president of Local 1201 of the Service Employees International Union, told the commission that Sodexho, a Maryland-based company, had not improved services in the schools and that district workers unfairly were held to higher standards. "Why are we expected to clean 32,000 square feet - 10,000 square feet more than contractors?" he asked. He called the contract with Sodexho "a complete waste of taxpayer money." The district, which hired Sodexho earlier this school year, is paying the firm about $9 million for this school year.

Source: By PETER GOONAN, The Republican (MA), Monday, April 17, 2006

SPRINGFIELD - A union lawyer is threatening a battle after learning the city may replace night custodians in the school system with an outside cleaning company effective July 1. . .......The Springfield Finance Control Board on Tuesday advertised for bids from companies interested in taking over custodial duties in 45 school buildings on the second shift, 2:30 to 11 p.m. ...... The control board is also considering privatizing cafeteria services and has chosen companies to take over street sweeping and workmen's compensation. Connor said a letter sent by Puccia to custodians last week indicates that privatization is a done deed, and occurs after the custodians settled a seven-year contract with the control board in September.

Source: BY LIZ COBBS, Ann Arbor News (MI), Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Privatizing bus service in the Lincoln Consolidated Schools will not result in economic savings for the district, a labor relations expert said Monday. Roland Zullo, a research scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, told Lincoln school board members and a packed audience at Monday's board meeting that he has studied privatization for 12 years, in such service areas as school busing, trash pickup and urban transit.

Source: By Lori Montgomery, Washington Post, Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Federal securities regulators yesterday accused a Maryland firm of defrauding the District of millions in federal and local funds earmarked for D.C. charter schools, saying the firm used the cash to try to prop up two failing subsidiaries. In a complaint filed in federal court, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Geneva Capital Partners LLC and its owner, Eric M. Westbury of Silver Spring, obtained investments of more than $21 million from the District without telling D.C. officials that two of the city's advisers had a financial stake in Westbury's firms.

Source: Liz Bowie, Baltimore Sun (MD), March 30, 2006

These questions loomed over the debate about the city school takeover yesterday: Will it work? Can the state improve learning at 11 Baltimore schools by giving them to independent operators? ....... In Philadelphia, where a group of middle schools were turned over to nonprofits, universities and for-profit companies, there was not a significant difference in the results after three years, according to Douglas J. Mac Iver, a principal research scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Social Organization of Schools. Mac Iver and his wife, Martha, worked together on a report funded by the National Science Foundation that studied the Philadelphia effort.

"So far, the privatization experiment, which has cost a lot of [money] and cost a lot of disruption, has not paid off by producing consistently better ... achievement gains," Mac Iver said.

Philadelphia gave 14 middle schools to Edison and 12 schools to universities or for-profit companies. Twenty-six schools stayed under the control of the school system. But those city schools were given new curriculums and more support, and teachers were better trained.