CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. - In an effort to save Chesterfield County Public Schools $1.5 million, school leaders recently voted to outsource custodial services at eight of the county's schools to a company called GCA Services Group. CBS 6 first reported concerns of the conditions at Manchester High School and Swift Creek Elementary before school started in August.
According to a school source, there are now concerns with the upkeep by GCA at L.C. Bird High School.
"You can see dried spots and stuff, there used to be not all that, you see dirt in the classrooms," said L.C. Bird student Larry Levy.
CBS 6 was sent pictures of the field house locker room at L.C. Bird that were taken Monday night. Trash appears to be piled up along with other garbage on the floor.
Sources told CBS 6 the room still looked like that early Tuesday morning.
When asked about the situation, Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Andy Hawkins said he had not yet seen any of those photographs.
CBS 6 also obtained an email sent by a school employee at the high school addressing concerns on October 10, 2014.
Some of the concerns stated that the building was filthy, and there was dirt in piles throughout the hallway between the auxiliary gym and main gym.
The email also stated that doors were being left open and unlocked.
"Every week the principal has been creating a punch list that she sees as concerns and we have been address each one of those with the vendor," Hawkins said.
Hawkins said the cleaning at seven out of the eight schools GCA is responsible for is going well.
However, he said the school is working to correct any issues at L.C. Bird and the conditions will be improving.
In August, concerns were raised about GCA’s past hires and present performance. Earlier this year, GCA Education Services employed a custodian who police later arrested for using a crawl space above a girls’ restroom at a Tennessee school to spy on students, according to a report in the Chesterfield Observer.
The Regional Vice President of Sales for GCA Services Group, Russell Leboff, did not previously answer any questions posed to him in August.
