Outsourcing proposals cause friction among school board members

You are currently viewing Outsourcing proposals cause friction among school board members

The Unionville-Chadds Ford
School Board meeting began innocently enough. Superintendent Sharon Parker
announced that all six schools in the district had been recognized by the state
for adequate yearly progress for the last two years and school principals
accepted the plaques of recognition.

But the tone of the Dec. 13
meeting changed when the discussion shifted to the requests for proposals on
outsourcing. School Board Director Paul Price claimed there was a conflict of
interest among those who wrote the requests.

“People writing the RFPs are
the ones who would lose their jobs [if certain services are outsourced],” Price
said.

The discussion at the time
concerned requests for proposal about custodial and ground services. There are
also RFPs for food, transportation and banking services.

Other directors challenged
him, with Frank Murphy saying Price owed people an apology for accusing people
of a conflict of interest.

Price, a dentist turned
investment counselor, reiterated a charge from last month when the board
discussed an RFP on transportation. He said none of the RFPs explicitly tell
consultants to compare the costs of keeping the services in-house or retaining
outside providers.

“There’s
almost nothing in the proposals about outsourcing,” Price said.

Murphy challenged that charge
also, saying the cost/benefit comparison requests are written in the scope and
purpose of the requests.

Price said the RFPs reflected
bias against outsourcing, but Holly Manzone, another director, said it was
Price who was bringing bias to the issue, a bias in favor of outsourcing.

Directors Jeff Leiser and
Timotha Trigg also supported the RFPs as written.

Leiser reiterated Murphy’s
statement that the issue was properly addressed, while Trigg said it wasn’t a
matter of getting bids at this time.

Other directors were visibly
uncomfortable. They were squirming slightly in their seats and hiding their
faces in their hands while issuing muffled groans.

Price, who called himself a
professional writer, was asked to submit what he thought would be appropriate
wording for the requests for proposal so the RFPs could be mailed by Dec. 17.

Other business

The board also
continued discussion on student activity fees. No action was taken, but a fee
schedule needs to be finalized by the time the board puts together the next
budget. A current proposal calls for a scaled activity fee of $75, $50, $25 and
$10.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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