Board looks at savings on school custodial costs
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LIVINGSTON — A recently completed analysis of the allotment of in-house custodial services for Livingston Parish public schools points to more than $775,000 in potential savings, school officials said.
The report, however, was greeted with caution and some skepticism Thursday from Livingston Parish School Board members, all of whom attended a Board Budget and Goals Committee meeting where the analysis was presented.
They questioned the analysis’ calculations, whether figures reflected savings that could be realized without affecting well-maintained schools and whether the report took into account the particular situation at a given school.
Some schools are more spread out than others. Some have high student populations. Others are very old, board members said.
“This is something we don’t need to take real hasty,” board member Sid Kinchen said.
The analysis compared custodial man-hours each school or other district site used with a pre-existing standard based on square-footage. Under the standard, larger facilities merited more custodial man-hours.
Issued by a system cost-savings committee the board formed last summer, the report found 30 school sites are over their allotment and four are under. Eight are on target.
The committee was formed with an eye on the tightening budgets to come and already has recommended savings for school cafeterias now in place.
While acknowledging concerns of other members, board member Buddy Mincey Jr. said the board should have guidelines and stick to them.
The report’s potential savings figure is based on the net difference between the extra cost of over-allotted schools minus the savings from the under-allotted schools. The report made its comparison based on a “custodial unit,” defined at eight custodial hours over 195 days at a cost of $36,080.
The site with the largest overage was the system’s central office in Livingston at 2.5 custodial units.
But schools across the parish also were over: Maurepas School, Albany High School, Denham Springs High School, French Settlement High School, Holden School and Live Oak High School. The committee took no action on the report.
In other business, the full board met later Thursday and named Keith Martin as board president and Kinchen as vice president by acclamation.
The report, however, was greeted with caution and some skepticism Thursday from Livingston Parish School Board members, all of whom attended a Board Budget and Goals Committee meeting where the analysis was presented.
They questioned the analysis’ calculations, whether figures reflected savings that could be realized without affecting well-maintained schools and whether the report took into account the particular situation at a given school.
Some schools are more spread out than others. Some have high student populations. Others are very old, board members said.
“This is something we don’t need to take real hasty,” board member Sid Kinchen said.
The analysis compared custodial man-hours each school or other district site used with a pre-existing standard based on square-footage. Under the standard, larger facilities merited more custodial man-hours.
Issued by a system cost-savings committee the board formed last summer, the report found 30 school sites are over their allotment and four are under. Eight are on target.
The committee was formed with an eye on the tightening budgets to come and already has recommended savings for school cafeterias now in place.
While acknowledging concerns of other members, board member Buddy Mincey Jr. said the board should have guidelines and stick to them.
The report’s potential savings figure is based on the net difference between the extra cost of over-allotted schools minus the savings from the under-allotted schools. The report made its comparison based on a “custodial unit,” defined at eight custodial hours over 195 days at a cost of $36,080.
The site with the largest overage was the system’s central office in Livingston at 2.5 custodial units.
But schools across the parish also were over: Maurepas School, Albany High School, Denham Springs High School, French Settlement High School, Holden School and Live Oak High School. The committee took no action on the report.
In other business, the full board met later Thursday and named Keith Martin as board president and Kinchen as vice president by acclamation.
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