Parents’ vow to fight to save school janitors

Mar 31 2011 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

ANXIOUS parents of children at two primary schools this week vowed to fight to save their janitors from the axe.

Families at Chatelherault and Woodside primary schools are up in arms over proposals for the schools to share a janitor from end of April or early May.

They hit out after South Lanarkshire education committee on Tuesday approved the extension of the janitorial service pilot scheme to the two Silvertonhill schools.

The scheme will also extend to Craigbank and Robert Smillie Primary Schools in Larkhall.

However parents have raised concerns about health and safety and are angry that they have not been consulted on the matter.

Darren McAulay, chairman of Chatelherault Primary School’s Parent Council, said: “Our concerns are what happens if a child is sick. Who is going to attend to them?

“The council are looking for management, teachers and support staff to fill the gap.”

One mum-of-two, who didn’t want to be named, added: “How can a janitor go between two schools? Which school takes priority and which suffers if there are incidents at the same time?

“It is not for teachers or support staff to do janitorial or cleaning duties.

“We want to keep a separate janitor for both schools.

“What about in the winter? Who is going to grit the school’s paths as they can’t do the paths at both schools at the same time?”

SNP Hamilton South councillor Bobby Lawson has raised concerns about health and safety. He said: “The janitor is a big part of the playground and the school.

“He helps children if they are sick or if they hurt themselves.

“The janitor opens the gates in the morning and that will now be done by a cleaner.”

SNP’s Christina McKelvie shares parents’ worries and has called on the council to reverse the decision.

“We had bad weather last year. Who is going to fix the heating if it breaks down?

“If nobody knows how to fix it, does that mean that the school will have to close and children’s education suffer?

“The council say they have carried out a pilot scheme but what is the evaluation of that and why has that not been published?”

Larkhall SNP councillor Peter Craig said the move to share one janitor at Robert Smillie and Craigbank primary schools was “indefensible” and “came out of the blue”.

“There has be no consultation with parents and no risk assessment and it is not right to do it without them,” he said.

A council spokeswoman said: “The shared janitorial pilot has been running successfully in a number of schools since August last year.

“The extension will allow us to monitor, evaluate and identify improvements in service delivery.

“The pilot will run from end of April or May and the outcome will be reported back to the education committee.

“Discussions will take place with Parent Councils prior to the commencement of the pilot and during the pilot period.”

l The Parent Council at Chatelherault have arranged a meeting in the school to discuss the issue on Wednesday, April 20.