Schools shorted on upkeep, unions say
After a PCB leak hit a student, the Department of Education has decided to speed up their timeline for removing from PS 41 in New Dorp the old light fixtures. "Year after year of cuts are taking a toll on our public schools," Hector Figueroa, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, said in a statement. "The city's cuts have forced our schools to slash the number of school cleaners, handypersons and engineers, and to sharply reduce the supplies these workers need to keep schools safe, sanitary and running properly.
"Enough is enough. Our schools are struggling to try to maintain an environment where our children can learn."
PS 36 AND PS 41
PCBs - potentially dangerous chemicals used in construction before they were banned in the 1970s - have been found in schools across the city, leaking out of old light ballasts in two high-profile cases on Staten Island, at PS 36 in Annadale and PS 41 in New Dorp.
The report was co-written by representatives of Local 94 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
"The city's repeated cuts to facilities budgets has produced an unsustainable situation for our schools and the workers who keep schools running every day," Kuba Brown, president of Local 94 of the IUOE, said in a statement. "If our city is serious about ensuring that our schools provide long-term sustainability for green school operations in addition to providing the safe and sanitary environment children need, we must change course."
The unions argued that the slow removal of the PCBs - nearly 70 percent of schools still have light ballasts or caulk that likely contain the chemicals, the unions allege - is just one problem caused by cuts of nearly $50 million to the maintenance budget for the city Department of Education.
$708M PLEDGE
The department has pledged $708 million to remove the banned chemicals from schools citywide, but the plan spreads the removal out over 10 years.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is tasked with setting the city's budget, in conjunction with the City Council, and also oversees the school system.
At the Michael J. Petrides Educational Complex in Sunnyside, secretary to the custodian and SEIU member Randi Jensen said there are still about 25 lighting fixtures with PCBs in the building.
"The rest were changed," she said. "We monitor the others."
The report also points to "severe overcowding" in schools, which it says is worst in Queens and on Staten Island, that increases daily maintenance needs and wear and tear on the buildings.
The report cited overcrowding at Curtis High School in St. George and PS 20 in Port Richmond as among the worst in the city.
STAFFING CUTS
The report also highlighted substantial cuts in staffing and maintenance operations putting stress on the 6,000 workers the unions represent - none of whom have had a raise in more than five years, the unions allege.
While New York City spends just 3 percent of its total education funding on maintenance, other large districts spend an average of 9 percent, the report found.
Ms. Jensen said doing more with less has become the norm at her school - where the workers' job is complicated by the sprawling nature of the Petrides campus.
"The workers have to work with less money, and they (the city) want the same job done," she said. "The cost of the supplies goes up. The money used for the supplies, you have to use it for supplies - you can't hire anyone else to do the work."
Extra help isn't permitted, Ms. Jensen said.
"They don't allow someone to cut the grass, so we have a big campus with a lot of grass, and we have a man-and-a-half to cut the grass, and they don't allow extra funding for that," she said.
LESS TIME TO CLEAN
Workers once had eight minutes to clean a classroom - now it's five minutes. Workers used to scrub walls in bathrooms - now they don't have the time.
Ms. Jensen has one request, "For the mayor to stop cutting the budget."
"He cuts and cuts and he wants us to the same job," she said. "He cuts and cuts the budget, we don't get any kind of raise, so we're doing it all for the same money."