Karen’s School Board Speech September 18 If the school district needs to save money, don’t do it on the backs of custodians and clerical workers. Listen to the Teamsters. If we can get better health coverage and save the district $12 million while saving 250 jobs, why aren’t we? In June the Teamsters presented a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan that provides better health coverage for less money. So we don’t need to choose between contracting out custodians or laying off clerical staff. We can keep them as well as save millions by reworking our health plan. We can stop the war on the workers and start working together. Save not 3 million but 12 million. Before you make your decision you need to answer the following questions for the public. Why is Superintendent Thompson saving only 3 million when he could save 12 million? Why did he dismiss the Teamster’s insurance solution in June? What’s wrong with Blue Cross/Blue Shield? And why isn’t he considering other insurance bids—as he promised in June, Mrs. Curatolo? Where insurance requests even sent out, Mrs. Carroll? If not, if the Superintendent didn’t look at any insurance bids during the summer, if he delayed taking advantage of a potential $12 million in savings, then surely you can delay this vote for privatization. Delay the vote until all the bids are in and the joint committee reviews them. Delay the vote until November when the referendum frees up millions in the capital fund. Or delay the vote until January when the Florida Legislature returns 1 billion to K-12 schools. So I’ve just given you 3 good reasons why not to outsource custodians or cut clerical staff. To sum up: use the reserve fund to balance our budget. Then replenish it from the windfall from the referendum or from the return of 1 billion from the Florida Legislature or from the savings realized from a new health plan. Do it for Bernardo, Leo, Juan, Elvira and all our other janitors. This solution would build community. And Dr. Thompson, it might even mean you wouldn’t need bullet-proof glass and a bodyguard, because you’d be doing what the community wants rather than waging war on the workers. Leo Pozo sums up the problem well, “I’m 75 years old. Who will hire me, and how can I afford to work for GCA at 1/3 less the pay with no health benefits?” For seventeen years Leo has worked at Lely, his wife for 29. They have two grandchildren at the school. It isn’t right to outsource their jobs to strangers. And it will be strangers who work in our schools (Mrs. Carroll) because most janitors can’t afford to be hired back at 1/3 less the pay with no health benefits. Could you?