Filthy buildings. Principals overseeing cleaning or hiring extra help out of pocket. Teachers scrambling to clean classrooms in time for the first days of school. Reports of missing, broken and misplaced equipment. Mouse poop.

That’s what many Chicago Public School principals say resulted after CPS privatized janitorial services in the schools to the tune of $340 million, and neither CPS nor Aramark have fixed the problems even after being informed of the situation.

UPDATE:
CPS to lay off 476 custodians

Some 226 principals (CPS operates 516 schools) responded to a survey taken by AAPPLE, a new activist group under the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. The Aramark contract is the first issue the group is tackling, calling now on the Board of Education to rescind its $240 million contract with Aramark if the facilities giant can’t maintain “ordinary tidiness” standards known in the industry as APPA Level 2.

One Southwest Side elementary principal undefined who along with others did not want her name printed for fear of retribution undefined said in a telephone interview that since Aramark took over the school, it has developed a problem with bugs and rodents that are feasting on garbage and on spilled drops of milk on floors that aren’t being cleaned enough, she said.

She’s yet to visit classrooms this  ... 

More at source: Sun Times

Find a janitorial service here.