A union official asked the Panther Valley School Board to reconsider a decision to hire an outside firm for custodial services.

Darrin Fry, business agent for Teamsters Union Local 773, said the jobs of 11 full-time and five part-time custodians are in jeopardy.In January, the school board agreed to hire an outside firm to perform janitorial services within the district."The decision to outsource custodial jobs will have an adverse impact on the school district and the community at large," Fry said.He said these impacts include:• A strain on the local economy, as current custodians spend their wages in purchasing goods and services from local businesses.• The shifting of tax dollars spent on quality services provided by public custodians to a profit-driven company from another state.• A loss of control by the school district as the new employees unknown strangers with ongoing access to students will work for a third-party contactor; who said he will pay "a little more than minimum wage" to his custodians, Fry said.Fry said, "The school district's financial outlook, based on budgeted revenues and expenditures for the past five fiscal years, reflects reasonable stability."He said, "Under no circumstances should the 16 custodial employees be replaced with unknown strangers. In fact, before any school district employee's job is outsourced, there should be a shared sacrifice by all to achieve whatever budget savings may be warranted in the future."Rosemary Porembo, superintendent of schools, had no comment, saying negotiations are not public.Before Thursday's school board meeting, the board met in executive session to discuss two union contracts up for renewal.The matter was not discussed at the meeting, but a report to the Times News indicated the unionized secretarial staff has been asked to take a cut of $4 per hour, or $3 per hour and give up some personal days.