Southfield ESP fighting privatization threat
Michael Graves (right), president of Southfield's Michigan ESP Association, says winning the fight against privatization is important to the education of students.
Southfield ESP members are waging a tough battle against privatization that could cost the jobs of more than 300 custodians, food service workers and bus drivers in the 9,231-student Oakland County school district.
The Southfield Board of Education is expected to decide in April whether to privatize those jobs.
“This whole idea of privatization has become a cancer in our school environment,” MEA President Iris K. Salters told about 200 Southfield support staff members at a candlelight rally prior to the Southfield school board meeting Jan. 8.
“Your dedication to your jobs is what has made Southfield the district that it is today,” Salters said. “Stay together, stay strong and know that MEA cares for you and cares what happens to you. Stay with it!”
Berkley (from left) parapro Penny Chandler, maintenance worker Larry Naumann, teacher Mary Lou Gleason, ESP president Rex Harrison, parapro Kathy Moir and custodian Bob Merkle, rallied against privatization in Southfield.
UniServ director Pat Haynie worries that if the Southfield ESP positions are privatized, other districts across Oakland County will consider doing the same.
“Southfield was one of the first ESP units in the state to join MEA, so we can’t let this happen,” she said.
Haynie acknowledged that districts across Michigan are facing challenging economic times, but bristled that the Southfield school board is trying to balance its budget on the backs of school employees.
“In the last round of bargaining, we saved this district millions of dollars,” she said. “The district should look at cutting costs across the board. Right now, Southfield has one of the highest administrator ratios in Oakland County, if not the whole state, and it just created another administrative position.
“It doesn’t make sense to privatize the jobs of support staff employees who provide direct services to students.”
Kathy Michaelsen (center), president of the Educational Secretaries of Southfield, and Perry Bryant (right), vice president of the secretaries unit, showed their support at the anti-privatization rally.
Haynie said Southfield ESP members appreciate the help they’re receiving from MEA and the support from ESP and EA members across the state in fighting privatization.
“They recognize that we’re fighting on behalf of all ESP members in the state,” she said.
Michael Graves, president of the Southfield Michigan ESP Association and a MEA Board member, said there’s still a lot of work to be done between now and March to convince the school board not to privatize.
“We need to be at every board meeting.” Graves said at the rally. “Tell the folks who didn’t come tonight that we need them. No battles can be won with just a few. It’s important to our lives and to the lives of the students that we fight this.”
Southfield EA President Ted Peters said a privatization threat against one school employee is a threat against every school employee.
“It’s all of us—if they can come for one, they can come for all of us. The one constant in all of this is the students we serve. They (the school board) don’t appreciate the work we do for the students, or they wouldn’t be doing this.