June 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
In an effort to save money and relieve each school of the in-house burden, the DeKalb County Board of Education has decided to outsource custodial services at all school owned buildings beginning next month.
During Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting, the Board voted to enter into a contract with Southern Management Services, LLC (SMS) effective July 1, 2019.
The DeKalb County School District will pay SMS $494,184 for the year at a rate of $41, 182 per month. The initial term of the contract runs through June 30, 2020 but the agreement will renew on an annual basis for four- one year renewal periods unless either party provides written notice at least 90 days prior to the expiration date of the term.
Under the agreement, SMS will provide complete janitorial/custodial services at DeKalb County High School, DeKalb Middle School, DeKalb West School, Northside Elementary, Smithville Elementary, and at the Ernest Ray Education Center.
SMS will provide all equipment and supplies. Much of the work will be done after school hours. The company will also provide clean-up following school athletic events.
The School District will no longer employ custodians but those who have worked for the school system may apply with SMS and if re-hired could find their pay to be better than what the school system was able to offer.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps said the school system will save about $35,000- $40,000 a year by outsourcing the custodial services and it will relieve the district from having to recruit and retain employees itself. He said SMS partners with other school systems and comes highly recommended.
*About SMS (according to the SMS website):
“Southern Management Services (SMS) is a privately held facility management services provider, headquartered in Nashville Tennessee, with regional partners and locations across the Southeast. SMS was established in 2007 and was acquired and restructured in 2015. Since its inception, the SMS core business model has been the provision of facility management services to education partners, ranging from K-12 districts to higher education institutions.
The SMS management team, and its trusted partners, has over 100 years of experience in the janitorial and contract cleaning industry, and we firmly believe that cleanliness aids in the scholarship and achievements for students within all educational facilities and learning environments.
The leadership within our organization is comprised of accomplished business executives with extraordinary experience in large-scale startups, daily operations, quality control, safety, training, recruitment, and customer relations. We are experts in our field, and value customer satisfaction as our highest priority.
SMS is ISSA CIMS Green Building Certified, and currently provides facility services to over 100,000 students, teachers and administrators each day, encompassing nearly 20 million square feet”.
https://smsfacilities.com/