From Lowell Sun, Page 1 May 31, 2015

By Alana Melanson
Sun Staff

CHELMSFORD -- Only two months after Chelmsford Public Schools inked a deal with Aramark Education Services for janitorial services in 2011, a subcontracted employee was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court on a charge of forging an opioid painkiller prescription.

Two years later, an Aramark custodian was arrested after being caught on hidden camera stealing student prescriptions from the McCarthy Middle School nurse's office. This month, police used surveillance cameras again to catch another Aramark custodian accused of stealing school equipment and student belongings, including a credit card, from a locker room. Police announced Friday they are investigating yet another Aramark employee believed to have stolen computer equipment from one of the schools.

Instances like these are among the pitfalls to privatization, according to Jim Durkin, director of legislation, political action and communications for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 93, a union representing public custodial workers in New England. When Chelmsford was looking to go this route with custodians, he said, his organization warned school officials the direct cost savings they sought may not outweigh the negative side effects.

Low wages for these outsourced positions can affect the quality of employees they attract, Durkin said.

"You have a revolving door of strangers, with unknown histories and backgrounds, as opposed to a custodian who is part of the fiber of the school community," he said.
School custodians who are direct employees of a district will often spend many years in the same job, Durkin said, and provide an extra level of security in the school setting, as opposed to compromising it. He said the public, parents, students and staff deserve to know who's coming in and out of the schools on a daily basis.

School Committee Chairman Al Thomas said the committee is concerned about the recent thefts, but that such problems can exist whether the employees are hired directly by the schools or through a contractor. When he was principal of Chelmsford High School, for example, he said a camera had to be set up to catch a non-custodian, direct employee with access to a safe in the act of stealing from it.

According to the School Department's contract with Aramark, Chelmsford Public Schools has the right to conduct checks of both the state Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and the Sex Offender Record Information (SORI) for Aramark employees and its subcontractors. But while these means are available to try to root out bad apples before they set foot in the schools, Thomas said they're not foolproof.
"The thing with CORI checks, until somebody's caught doing something, nothing shows," he said. "That helps, but it's not a total protection from issues."

The Sun reached out to Superintendent Frank Tiano and school Human Resources Director Ken Storlazzi to inquire about the screening of these contract employees. Neither responded.

School Committee members The Sun spoke with did not have knowledge of whether the practices outlined in the contract were being followed.
"Are they CORI-checking everybody the way they should?" Committee Secretary Evelyn Thoren said. "And are they fingerprinting them? Because that is a new law to add to it."

When contacted regarding what sort of screening and background checking Aramark conducts on its employees, company Vice President of Corporate Communications Karen Cutler provided only a short email response to The Sun. She said the company does conduct background checks on all of its employees, but the district is responsible for fingerprinting all employees who work in schools. Cutler did not respond to a subsequent request for greater detail regarding Aramark's background checking process.

In addition to the instances that resulted in charges, Police Chief Jim Spinney said investigations of other thefts have occurred at the schools. In the fall of 2011, $100 was missing from the Byam Elementary School cafeteria cash box, and a month later, a digital camera was stolen from a teacher's room. In both cases, Spinney said, no charges were filed because the items stolen were in open, heavily traveled areas and there was no definitive proof of who the culprit was.

This past March, police were back at Byam to investigate missing cash, a classroom projector and an iPad. Again, the investigation didn't lead police to any suspects.
Thomas lauded police for their work in identifying the most recent Aramark employee alleged to have stolen, an investigation Spinney said took a month to complete.

School Committee member Barbara Skaar, who was skeptical of the benefits of outsourcing touted by school officials during her first run for a committee seat in 2012, said she is concerned about the safety of students and staff and is interested in reviewing the Aramark contract. "I think we need to revisit whether or not this was a cost-saving endeavor," she said. Thoren said she believes Aramark has acted swiftly when problems have arisen, but she agrees it is time to review the contract.

While the contract is not negotiated by the committee - it is managed by the school business manager - Thoren said members can make recommendations as to what direction they would like to go.
She believes custodians could be an area where the schools and town government could collaborate to produce savings and efficiencies. Property maintenance workers are already under the purview of the town side, Thoren said, and there have been instances where it wasn't clear whether a particular duty fell under maintenance or custodial. She said she would like to have a discussion with the town government to determine the pros and cons of possibly bringing school custodians under its jurisdiction. "If it was more efficient and didn't cost any more money, then we would benefit on both sides of the ledger," Thoren said.

Aramark custodians arrested while working for Chelmsford schools:

2011: Sean Watson, of Boscawen, N.H., a subcontracted employee of Aramark, was arrested during a routine traffic stop on Drum Hill Road. Watson had a default warrant for failing to appear in Lawrence District Court on a charge of uttering a false prescription. Watson had allegedly forged a prescription for Roxicodone, a generic form of Oxycodone, and attempted to fill it at a Lawrence pharmacy.

2013: Corey Ralls, of Lowell, an Aramark custodian, was accused of breaking into a locked McCarthy Middle School nurse's office cabinet and stealing dozens of pills belonging to students for treatment of attention deficit disorder. He was caught on hidden camera and charged with two counts of larceny of a drug and three counts of breaking into a depository.

2015: Lamar Wright, of Mattapan, was accused of breaking into Chelmsford High School lockers and stealing equipment, cash and student property, including a credit card that was later used at a local convenience store. He was allegedly caught on camera during a month long police investigation and charged with two counts of larceny from a building, receiving stolen property under $250 and improper use of a credit card over $250. Wright failed to appear at his arraignment and was later arrested on a warrant.

An investigation is also ongoing for another Aramark custodian believed to have stolen computer equipment from one of the schools.

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