Board of education President Don Mishler’s letter in defense of the board’s decision to outsource William Allan Middle School custodians was insulting, at best. Loosely translated, it read, “We’ve heard overwhelming opposition to our proposal to outsource these jobs, however the board has already decided that outsourcing is preferable. The concerns presented by community and school members are invalid and not going to be investigated further. Feel free to come to the meeting and hear yourself talk, where we have predetermined that the outsourcing measure will pass anyway.”
Mishler actually listed the 100 plus jobs that the school district has already outsourced, as if eliminating salaries and health benefits of Moorestown families is something to be proud of. How can the board defend this as a cost saving measure necessary for our schools when the combined salaries of the five people losing their jobs is barely equal to any one of the administrative director salaries, who receive bonuses and raises that are each in the tens of thousands of dollars?
Like the wildly unpopular proposal to outsource the district’s paraprofessionals, this decision illustrates how ignorant the board is of exactly what the lowest-paid and hardest-working members of our school district actually do for our kids and our schools. Our community has made it loud and clear that we are against outsourcing positions in our schools. As elected officials, the members of the board are charged with implementing measures based on the wants of the Moorestown community, not with pursuing their own agendas. Stop pimping out our school district and keep the jobs at home.
E. Hughes
