Despite Pleas, Board of Education Approves Custodian's Transfer

After hearing final pleas from parents, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education decided Thursday night to approve the transfer of Brunner Elementary custodian Urban Riggins to the night shift at the high school.

The board tabled the vote last week after more than 80 parents and students showed up to the meeting to beg them to reconsider the decision, calling Mr Dewayne (as he's more commonly known) “a safety advocate, counselor,  janitor and a friend” to the school. At the time, Board President Trip Whitehouse requested that a subcommittee gather to further review the proposed transfer.

Board member David Gorbunoff presented the findings of that review Thursday night. Gorbunoff said the committee received an extensive report from the district’s business administrator, Anthony Del Sordi, that broke down the school’s custodial needs based on square footage, skill sets, daily task lists and staff on hand. When looking at where to place custodians, the district considered four criteria: prior requests for transfers, the transfer’s ability to revise their work schedule, their success on a team and the overall impact on district operations in all seven buildings. In total there have been four custodial transfers and three custodial shift changes this year.

“Based on the information the subcommittee of the facilities committee received, we support the decision of the transfers as necessary,” Gorbunoff said.

The board ultimately voted 7-1, with Scotch Plains member Donald Parisi going against the transfer.

Prior to the board’s vote, Brunner mom Susan Judge, who organized the turnout of parents and students last week, begged the board to give one final thought to their decision.

“Please, give it your best to look behind the real reasons for this transfer,” she said. “We know that this is more a personal issue between administration and a valued employee of this school. … This isn’t just an administration decision and we all know that.”

“I feel like nobody listened to us,” another mother said. “He’s the person who holds the school together. He’s the one who notices if a child in the corner is upset. Why would you want to make someone go back in their career? It doesn’t make sense.”

Gorbunoff acknowledged that the subcommittee did not address Riggins or any other individual in their review, but rather asked Del Sordi to explain the process as a whole to them. In doing so, he said they realized that their reduction in staff required them to reorganize current custodial staff to meet the demands of the district.

The parents in attendance, though, questioned the logic in that, since after the district reorganized its staff, a position was posted for a custodial opening at Brunner.

“If we’re just moving people in the same position, why not just keep him and hire someone else for the high school?” Cheryl Kriney asked.

Gorbunoff said that it’s necessary for the district to allocate its current staff to the positions where they’re needed most first.

“We take our pool of staff and place them on board, and when you do all that you’re left with an empty spot and that’s the spot that’s posted,” he said.

Whitehouse added that it’s not the board’s responsibility to say one staff member should be at one school or the other. Rather, he said, it’s their job to ensure the entire district is running smoothly.

“It’s not a board member’s role to say this teacher, custodian, or administrator, we don’t want them in this building or that building,” Whitehouse said. “We need to ensure the process is not done arbitrarily or capriciously, and that it’s well-thought out and consistent in the way it’s carried out.”

One Brunner father asked the board to consider whether the process had indeed been carried out honorably. He also asked them to realize that sometimes it’s worth acknowledging when an employee has a set of intangible skills like Riggins does.

“Is this for the right reasons, or is this someone trying to sneak one by?” the man asked. “Sometimes it’s not about the dollars and cents, but there are other things he brings to the table at Brunner.”

Whitehouse responded promptly by saying that he could say clearly that the process was followed properly.

Whitehouse continued by responding to an e-mail he’d received asking if the board had spoken to Riggins about the decision.

“We would be so out of bounds to call him,” Whitehouse said. “There’s a process with all district employees that includes a grievance process. It’s within an employee’s rights to grieve any issues.”

Superintendent Margaret Hayes concluded the public discussion by saying that she ultimately takes responsibility for the decision.

“I want everybody to understand that it’s the superintendent who’s responsible for all recommendations for personnel," she said. "I take recommendations from the administration seriously, and at the end of the day I take full responsibility for the decision. When we deploy people in the district, it’s important that it’s good for the district as a whole. Sometimes that’s transparent, and sometimes it’s harder to be transparent.”

The parents in attendance said after the meeting that they felt the board "talked in circles," rather than providing them with a clear understanding of why the decision was being made. They said they plan to rally behind Riggins in the coming days.