Chicago schools become overcrowded disease factories feeding children rotten food as district runs out of money
by: Julie Wilson
NaturalNews.com
Friday, October 24, 2014
A new deal between the Chicago Public School (CPS) system and a private custodial and cafeteria service was promised to save the district tens of millions but instead resulted in some students having to clean their own school before the school year began and being served rotten food for lunch.
In February, CPS, the third largest school district in the nation, signed contracts worth $340 million to privatize their custodial services, an agreement that would take over the training, supervision and management of custodians for 66 Chicago schools, Catalyst Chicago reports.
The concept behind signing the new contracts was that teachers would have more time to teach rather than clean, the schools would save money, and each facility would have a high standard of cleanliness. However, school officials say none of these promises materialized, and in fact CPS conditions worsened, putting children at-risk.
Chicago schools agreed to spend $340 million on cleaning services that resulted in a high turnover of custodians, layoffs and filthier facilities
Two “world class” cleaning services were selected; CPS signed a $260 million contract with Aramark to manage 33 schools and an $80 million contract with SodexMAGIC to handle the remaining 33 facilities.
According to their website, Aramark provides facility management, food service and clothing to schools, sports facilities, prisons and healthcare institutions, and lists Houston Independent School District, Northwestern University and Field Museum Campus as past clients.
SodexMAGIC is a partnership between Sodexo, a French food service, and Magic Johnson Enterprises, a company owned by retired NBA player Magic Johnson.
School officials revealed their frustration regarding poor services and conditions through a survey conducted by AAPPLE, an arm of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.
About 230 principals said the contracts, which were each signed for three years and were supposed to provide cleaner buildings and use “state-of-the-art” cleaning technology, resulted in a lack of custodians, filthier schools and no new technology.
“It’s a germ factory,” said Michael Flynn, a sixth grade teacher at Otis Elementary in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. “And it’s as bad now as it’s ever been in terms of kids not getting what they need.”
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