Not Enough Supplies to Fight Flu: Hartford Custodians
By LAUREN PETTY
Updated 6:16 AM EST, Fri, Oct 30, 2009
Emmary Izquierdo's 5-year-old daughter brought home a letter from Hartford Public Schools on Thursday, warning about an increase in "flu-like" symptoms in several schools.
On the same day, she received a letter stating that six Hartford school custodians held a news conference outside McDonough Elementary School because they were concerned about a lack of supplies and staff to clean the schools.
"They just want us to leave them home 24 hours, until the virus goes away," Izquierdo said.
"We're not able to get in there with disinfectant and wash the walls and wash the furniture down the way that we need to do it, because we just don't have the manpower," said AFSCME Local 566 President Levey Kardulis, who is also the head custodian at Burns Elementary School.
Union officials said 60 workers have been laid off over the past two year, causing staffing shortages, but they claim it's a different scenario at the city's magnet schools.
"My school, we have money and we have supplies and manpower and we see 18 other schools that doesn't have nobody but one head custodian," said Rich Deschenes, the head custodian at Classical Magnet School.
McDonough Elementary is down to one head custodian during the day and a second custodian comes in at night. The union says that means they can only clean each classroom every nine to 10 days.
"I think, with the swine flu, it's dangerous. There have been cases of people dying," Hanniyah Welborn, of Hartford, said when she heard about the custodians' concerns.
A spokesperson for Hartford Public Schools said the district has not received any complaints about supply shortages.
"The district has a sufficient amount of cleaning supplies for its schools. The district also keeps an additional $50,000 in cleaning supplies as an emergency back up," said David Medina, the External Communications Director for Hartford Public Schools.
Izquierdo said that, if that's the case, she wants to make sure her daughter's school, Maria Sanchez Elementary, has what it needs.
"I think every school should be equal, so they should have more custodians everywhere," said Izquierdo.
First Published: Oct 29, 2009 9:33 PM EST
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