{"id":1065,"date":"2010-12-15T09:47:53","date_gmt":"2010-12-15T14:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unionvilletimes.com\/?p=1065"},"modified":"2010-12-15T10:02:10","modified_gmt":"2010-12-15T15:02:10","slug":"sorting-opinion-from-fact-on-outsourcing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=1065","title":{"rendered":"Sorting opinion from fact on Unionville outsourcing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Price’s outburst underscores why outsourcing process must be fact-based, not opinion driven<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Outsourcing school services, such as busing, will be a difficult decision for Unionville.<\/p><\/div>\n

EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 It was hard not to feel bad while watching it.<\/p>\n

Dr. Paul Price\u2019s diatribe Monday suggesting that the request for proposal to evaluate outsourcing was either incompetent or biased against outsourcing was one of those publicly self-destructive moments that make you want to cringe, as a human being. The reporter in me made sure I kept taking notes, but I felt a sense of embarrassment \u2014 seemingly shared by many in the room.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Commentary<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Price\u2019s recent outbursts almost seem calculated to prop up the opponents of his stated positions, building sympathy for them through his conduct. He\u2019s ignored repeated requests by his colleagues not to continue issuing his own statements \u2014 and he again Monday night handed out his take on the pension reform bill.<\/p>\n

And while he\u2019s been colorful up until Monday night \u2014 and certainly a font for good news copy \u2014 his allegations crossed a line Monday night. Questioning the integrity of the administration in this instance was inappropriate, unwarranted \u2014 and frankly, seemed a bit like grandstanding from here.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s clear that people have the right to their opinions. Price, rather obviously, seems to want to outsource transportation, food service, janitorial and groundskeeping services for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with having that opinion \u2014 but like a lot of things in Price\u2019s world, it appears he seems to embrace his opinion as fact.<\/p>\n

The fact of the matter is this: outsourcing might save a lot of money. It might also leave district students with compromised safety, could leave the district and administration hamstrung and dependent on outside contractors and with less overall control of operations. That the quality of service being maintained is in doubt, goes without saying.<\/p>\n

Right now, a level-headed look at the subject invites many more questions than answers. Without a sober analysis of the costs, risks and what non-monetary benefits students and parents stand to lose, it\u2019s impossible for the board to make an informed decision. That\u2019s a process that should unfold over the coming weeks and months and frankly, it should be a tough call.<\/p>\n

Schools Superintendent Sharon Parker has been forced to walk a knife edge on the subject \u2014 and seems to well understand the impact of such decisions. She has put in a lot of effort to make sure there is fact-finding and a full understanding of the implications, both financially and on students and parents and that the process is as objective as possible. For that, she, and the rest of the administration deserve credit \u2014 for being a calm, reasoned voice when talking about a difficult subject.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a process that will be harder \u2014 and more damaging in the long term \u2014 if we continue to see board members attempt to represent their opinion as facts, and Price is not the only board member guilty of that, to be sure.<\/p>\n

Having spoken with others who have been through this process, it\u2019s a little disingenuous to suggest \u2014 as some have claimed \u2014 that those fired by the school district will be immediately rehired by the outside companies. At best, in neighboring districts, it\u2019s been a mixed bag, with some employees taken on, and others not. Pay and benefits have generally been lower \u2014 and working conditions often worse. Let\u2019s not forget that many of these district employees are also local residents and taxpayers, too \u2014 and no small part of our community. We need to be upfront and honest \u2014 people, people who have a direct impact on our students, are going to be left without jobs if outsourcing goes forward.<\/p>\n

Maybe, for the sake of the taxpaying public, that\u2019s the right decision, but it\u2019s unfair and disrespectful to these employees to suggest they need not fear for their employment during this process.<\/p>\n

Monday night\u2019s outburst won\u2019t be the last emotional discussion of the subject matter \u2014 and if an informal survey of parents is an indication, I\u2019m not sure that the Board of Education has any sense of the fury it will face in 2011 on the subject \u2014 and how broad based community opposition to outsourcing seems likely to be marshaled in the coming months.<\/p>\n

For now, one can only hope that reason drives the process \u2014 but with elections coming 2011, more than likely, that seems an unrealistic expectation.<\/p>\n

Let us hope that Monday will be the extent of the inappropriate personal attacks during what will be, at best, a difficult process. If there can\u2019t be peace on Earth in this holiday season, let there be dignity and respect during the Board of Education meetings.<\/p>\n

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Price’s outburst underscores why outsourcing process must be fact-based, not opinion driven By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 It was hard not to feel bad while watching it. Dr. Paul Price\u2019s diatribe Monday suggesting that the request for proposal to evaluate outsourcing was either incompetent or biased against outsourcing was one of those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,120,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-columns","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}