District will not privatize

YPSILANTI, MI — While a Ypsilanti Public Schools board meeting started with anger and raised voices, it ended with hugs and tears of joy, according to the Ypsilanti Courier.

Twenty-six custodial positions that were about to be outsourced to a private contractor are no longer on the table as part of the district''s layoffs, the article stated.

"I packed my stuff and it''s in my trunk because I heard if the board voted for the privatization, I wouldn''t have a job to go to tomorrow," said Cheryl Wysocki, a custodian at Adams STEM Academy.

"It''s a relief. We can brush ourselves off and go back to work to do what we are paid to do," Wysocki added.

According to the article, the decision to vote against privatizing the custodial positions was helped along after several members of the custodial staff and teachers spoke in front of the board about what types of community losses would come along with the cuts.

While privatization would have saved the district more than $450,000, board members agreed with the community members at the meeting that long-term costs would much out-weigh the immediate savings, the article noted.

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