To the Editor,

Apparently the letters I have written in this newspaper have made the hierarchy of the school department nervous or all of a sudden cost efficient.

On the afternoon of Aug. 4, 2014, a decree was sent down to the schools, in this case Decas School where I was scheduled to work, saying custodial substitutes were no longer needed.

From what I understand, the cleaning company who have made their presence felt with their inferior work, will be back again to do some more work. They do this work in a building that already has union personnel assigned to it, who have bee sent to another school.

For you taxpayers out there who have jobs, make a living (or try to), and feed your families, what would you say if the roles were reversed and you were facing your job being outsourced? It seems this is the trend today, the attack on the working middle class by power grabbing people lying to the workers, who are unfortunately in the way of their agenda.

I have been associated with the school department for 27 years full-time and part-time, and happily so. The school personnel including teachers, their associates and anyone connected to a school function are all special people and in my opinion do not deserve to be put through what is going on presently.

The head of an organization should treat the personnel with respect. You have to earn someone's trust by not lying to them or intimidating others into retirement.

I have a deep affinity to these special people. When I was diagnosed with throat cancer and given four months to live, my associates and teachers and others inspired me.

The custodians were given a bad diagnosis this June. The idea proposed by the superintendent to throw half of the custodians out of work and privatize was supposedly tabled until later. How can anyone trust the head of a school system to relate to its workers?

Just remember the tree of equality. Start with the trunk and roots, which stabilizes the base. Custodians, kitchen workers, secretaries and bus drivers are all components that are essential. The teachers are the main ingredient. Everything revolves around them and right now they are trying to organize for the upcoming school year.

The administrative part is the top of the tree, which I feel is top heavy and as I said previously should take a reduction in pay to set an example. As a show of recognition of these lean times, they should freeze any pay raise or bonus until the school department gets on its feet.

What do you all out there think? I think it is a fair thing compared to what people in the system are going through.

Arthur Sandland
Retired Custodian