What’s The Conflict?
I’m doing this activity on the recent conflict that is taking place in my town. Everywhere around the world we are seeing people getting laid off or losing their jobs and companies shutting down. Where I live this is taking place and recently schools in my area are considering laying off all of the janitorial staff. This is causing quite a conflict because the school is planning on letting go of the janitors and hire a cleaning company to take over their jobs. The reason that the school is considering this drastic move is that it will save the school at least 350,000 dollars to up to 1.3 million dollars in the next four years. Although the school would be saving a lot of money and that money could be used to give the students a better education most of the janitors that work at the school have children that attend t he school also. My father worked as janitor at the school for many, many years so part of my thinks that letting go of the Janitors is a bad thing and the other part sees the advantages of the layoffs.
The conflict that is going on is that some community members believe that the superintendent of the school is getting paid too much and if they would have pay cuts then they would be able to afford to keep a few of the janitors on staff. This is making the community uneasy in a recent town meeting; the members of the community filled the large board room and left others out in the hall. Everyone wanted their voice to be heard on the topic and wanted to support the janitors of the school. Parents have even gone as far as the say that if the janitors are cut they will move to a different district that supports their janitors. The community feels that the janitors help keep the school in as good of conditions as they are. They keep everything running smoothly and give the students a better learning environment.
I think that one way that they could help to resolve this conflict would be to offer the janitors less hours. The school would still be able to save money and keep the janitors on staff if they would just cut back on hours. Also they could offer the janitors that have worked at the school the longest to stay. By doing this they would cause less conflict between the school educators and the community. There are two sides to every story and in this case you have to think of what is going to be the best situation for the school. If cutting all the janitors would save that much money than the school could afford to give students a better education, but could have that amount do just the same and save some of the current janitors from losing their jobs.
How do you feel about this situation? Should the school cut the janitors, save money, but have the community upset or should they figure out a different situation?
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This is a hard situation, both for the community and for the school board. $350,000 dollars is a lot of money, and the school could definitely use that money to improve education. However, the janitors are members of the community and shouldn't be abandoned. I think the school should retain a few janitors (maybe one per school) to work during the day. These janitors would be available to clean up messes or fix things that break during school, take out the lunch trash,stuff like that. Then a cleaning crew could come in at night to do the heavy duty cleaning. This way the school saves money and at least some of the janitors retain their jobs.
ReplyDeleteI think they should find another solution. I'm tired of people in the community losing their jobs to outsourcing so it would be nice if they could compromise. Perhaps cut salaries of some of the school administrators within the school district to accomodate keeping the janitors. I like how they won't reduce their salaries yet they can completely remove someone elses.
ReplyDeleteThis is a hard decision to make, however I also think it should be an easy one. During these tough economic times, every one is acting more selfish and worrying only about their jobs (which is understandable). I think one solution to be considered is pay cuts, especially for the superintendent. If he is getting paid too much, then maybe this is the problem.
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