Putnam Schools Custodial Issues Back

Putnam County School Board members expressed major concerns Thursday night with the quality of its cleaning services, just six months after changing services because of similar problems.

The board approved an agreement with ABM this spring, after dropping their previous custodial partner. The start to the school year has not gone well, according to School Board Chair Lynn McHenry.

“We had high expectations,” McHenry said. “We were promised that the same things we had been through, we wouldn’t go through again, and then we went through them again. We understand personnel issues or whatever, but we didn’t want excuses. We just don’t want that to happen. We want to make sure you understand that we will not We won’t live with that quality because we didn’t put up with it then before you and we’re not going to put up with it now.”

School Board Member Kim Cravens said she was “flabbergasted” at the conditions of Cookeville High School, where some of the most serious issues occurred.

“The email that I got from someone who was there helping their spouse at the school, and he was concerned enough that sent the pictures,” Cravens said. “That was on the weekend where we’d already had our orientations in our 10 o’clock day. There had already been students and parents. I cannot believe that a parent did not call me up. I don’t know if anybody else got one, but I couldn’t believe it because if I would have walked in that school and saw it the way that the pictures were sent to me, I’d have been livid. I’ve been like, ‘my kid’s supposed to come to school here.'”

ABM officials said they have made staffing changes to correct wrongdoing. They also installed QR code signage in classrooms at Cookeville High, allowing teachers to communicate directly with the company about issues. The pilot program will be rolled out to all schools in the next ten days.