{"id":121160,"date":"2025-08-05T15:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T15:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121160\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T15:10:15","slug":"chicago-public-schools-cuts-480-janitor-positions-as-it-ends-all-private-custodial-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121160\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Public Schools Cuts 480 Janitor Positions As It Ends All Private Custodial Contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at\/newsletters<\/a><\/p>\n

CHICAGO \u2014 Chicago Public Schools will cut 480 custodian jobs, end all private custodial contracts, and directly oversee the work of keeping schools clean.<\/p>\n

The move, which comes as the district is working to close a $734 million deficit<\/a>, sparked an immediate rebuke and demand for reconsideration from the two unions representing school custodians.<\/p>\n

Starting Sept. 30, CPS will oversee 2,100 full-time custodians and end seven contracts with private custodial companies. The change will mean cutting about 1,250 private custodians and ending a longstanding practice of contracting with private companies to help clean schools.<\/p>\n

CPS officials said the move is not only about cutting costs, but also part of the district\u2019s goal to bring 25% of privatized positions back under direct district oversight, as outlined in the five-year strategic plan. Last year, CPS ended its agreement with Aramark<\/a>, the Philadelphia-based company that oversaw management of all privately-employed and CPS custodians.<\/p>\n

When Aramark took over management of custodians in 2014, the district also laid off 480 janitors<\/a> and many schools complained<\/a> of dirty conditions for many years<\/a>. The cost of outsourcing went millions over budget<\/a>. A decade later, unions<\/a> and school principals<\/a> cheered the end of the Aramark deal.<\/p>\n

Now, some are also raising concerns about school cleanliness with these staffing reductions two weeks before the school year is set to begin on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t eliminate 1,200 custodians just two weeks before school starts without any real plan for how these buildings will be cleaned and ready,\u201d said Genie Kastrup, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1, the union representing privately-employed custodians. \u201cOur kids deserve a safe and healthy learning environment on day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles Mayfield, the district\u2019s chief operating officer said Monday he believes more CPS oversight will help ensure cleanliness at schools, even with fewer custodians. That includes improved staff training, better monitoring of cleaning supplies, and a mobile app that allows custodians to upload information about rooms they\u2019ve cleaned, giving the district \u201cvisibility\u201d on the work at schools, he said.<\/p>\n

Custodians with the private companies have received a text message and email about the change and instructions on how to apply for 750 full-time custodial roles inside CPS. They\u2019re being asked to fill out an interest form<\/a> by Aug. 22 and apply<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent to elected officials Friday, Mayfield wrote that the district\u2019s budget challenges made it \u201cnecessary to consolidate custodial services to ensure greater efficiency and long-term sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

CPS said the custodial changes will save about $40 million, which is part of the $165 million in savings that district officials already announced earlier this summer through layoffs<\/a> and cutting down on some school-based services<\/a>, such as hot meals and health services.<\/p>\n

The seven private custodial contracts now set to end were expected to cost a total $222 million over the next two school years, according to a summary of the contracts<\/a> that the Board of Education approved last February. CPS has the right to terminate those contracts with at least 30 days notice, according to district records.<\/p>\n

Mayfield also wrote that the district is \u201cmindful\u201d that many of the private custodians losing their jobs have served CPS \u201cloyally for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile CPS is proactively inviting all privately-employed custodians working within CPS schools to seek employment directly with CPS, unfortunately, due to budget constraints, not all positions will be retained,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The district says the changes will also \u201cstreamline\u201d custodial operations and improve oversight and quality.<\/p>\n

One South Side principal said she supports the shift to having CPS directly oversee custodians, but she\u2019s concerned about the transition. However, she said it may be difficult for schools to manage with fewer positions and worries about schedule changes.<\/p>\n

SEIU sharply denounced the change, raising concerns about job losses and the district\u2019s ability to keep schools clean. The union demanded the district rethink the number of positions it is cutting, provide custodians with the most years of seniority the right of first refusal for new in-house jobs, and ensure that any worker who takes an in-house custodian role represented by SEIU\u2019s Local 73 \u2014 which represents CPS-managed custodial workers \u2014 can keep the current rate of pay and minimum benefits.<\/p>\n

CPS officials did not directly comment on those demands.<\/p>\n

In SEIU\u2019s press release, Maria Avila, Local 1 vice president, said she\u2019s worked in CPS schools for more than 15 years, but the change feels like CPS is \u201cthrowing us away like we don\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.<\/p>\n

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at\/newsletters CHICAGO \u2014 Chicago Public…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":121161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,75268,407,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-121160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-collaborations","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114976799001035821","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}