Nome Public Schools will soon be outsourcing their maintenance and custodial work to NANA Management Services, hoping to save money in the dismal fiscal future, by contracting with the same company currently providing the district’s food service. The Nome Board of Education approved the three-year contract with NMS at a special session this week.
Superintendent Shawn Arnold says, given their current budget, it’s a financially responsible decision.
“We’re not a revenue-generating organization,” he said. “We rely on taxpayers, and we want to make sure that we’re as efficient as possible with our money.”
Arnold has been hammering out the details with Ted Mala, Senior Director of Business Development for NMS. Nome Schools will set a price for certain routine services, and anything above that will go through Arnold and the NMS supervisor—for example, Mala said, spending over $3,000 for a boiler or new HVAC system. Arnold says Nome Schools will see an initial savings of $50,000.
But the decision isn’t solely about the money. Arnold says while students and custodial staff keep the school buildings clean, there’s a history of projects not getting done in the current system.
“The things that need to be fixed, repaired, or cleaned up haven’t been done as efficiently as they’ve been reported,” said Arnold. “There’s broken windows, we’ve got Promethean boards falling off the walls. The water fountain had to be installed by Mr. Heinrich a few weeks ago. It was left unattended. There’s many other examples, and we’re looking at it from a cost-savings perspective, but also productivity.
While the goal is completing most work “in-house,” Arnold says NPS already contracts out for many larger projects.
“The large projects that have been completed on time, efficiently have been ones that we’ve had to outsource already,” he said.
Ted Mala says NMS has specialists they can fly in at low cost if a unique project arises, and through a partnership with the multi-billion dollar Sodexo corporation, they can purchase supplies at half the cost Nome Schools currently pays.
But that was a trigger point for some board members. Jennifer Reader asked about NMS’s intent to continue purchasing from local vendors to support Nome’s economy.
“I mean, I realize you guys have a bigger pot to choose from, but we also have a small community here that needs to be gainfully employed,” she said.
“Absolutely, we take that into complete consideration and again, being part of the community is important to us because we are a part of the community,” replied Ted Mala. “We also come from the same northwest region, so yes, the answer’s yes.”
Kristine McRae, speaking as a member of the public, said she’s come to see the wisdom of outsourcing the facilities contract, but, she says, “I would just like to impress upon Mr. Mala and the board that what Ms. Reader said is super important about keeping local funds and money in the community, especially to our business owners who always go above and beyond to find stuff for people—businesses and locals—and I just feel like that’s important enough to say.”
Nome Schools employees can choose to remain employed through the district, which Arnold encourages for the sake of retirement benefits if they’ve logged many years with NPS.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, Nome Elementary may soon have a new principal in the wake of Paul Clark’s resignation. Arnold says Kevin Theonnes, longtime administrator and temporary principal in Wales, accepted his letter of intent. He and his wife—also a teacher, originally from Noorvik—hope to move to Nome soon with their two children.
“All the certified staff coming to the district next year are coming from somewhere here in Alaska, and many of them have experience with the Nome region and Bering Straits region,” said Arnold. “Not one candidate has been hired from the Lower 48. And, as of right now, we’re fully staffed for next year.”
And while frustration continues in Juneau, Arnold says, locally, the budget is doing really well. The City of Nome offered more than NPS requested, which will hopefully keep one more teacher in pre-kindergarten education.
But that excitement was marred by news of a potentially expensive and mysterious problem: 144,000 gallons of saltwater have somehow vanished from the Nome Swimming Pool. No structural damage is evident, and City Manager Josie Bahnke says they don’t know the cause of the problem yet. Arnold says the city is bringing in engineers to explore the area, but all underground structures appear dry though they’re “still looking for the water.”
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared online with a photo of the pool’s below-deck equipment. The photo has been removed by request of the Nome Pool staff.
