NORTH NAPLES, Fla. - New developments in the proposed privatization of the Collier County School custodians.

Tuesday, the Teamsters presented the school board with information they say would save the district more than outsourcing their services would.

"They're part of my family. We have a school family, and they're equally a part of it as my students or my fellow colleagues as teachers would be,"
Gulf Coast High School teachers Julie Sprague is talking about janitors, the ones whose jobs are currently up in the air as Collier County looks at privatizing the school districts' custodial services.

School board members will make the vote on Thursday,

"I have some work to do between now and then," School Board President Linda Abbott said after tonight's meeting. "I have some questions. I asked a lot of questions."

Some of those questions are about a new healthcare plan the Teamsters presented today, that they say would save the district $12 million dollars next year. That's much more than the $3 million the district says privatizing will save.

"Its certainly always of interest to find other ways to save money, but in running any kind of business, you want to make sure your cost conscious about how you do it. Nobody wants to hurt anyone," Abbott says.

"I'm looking at bottom line dollars, and I don't want to make any ill advised decisions," board member Kathy Curatolo says. "We've done that on a couple of issues this years and I'd like to at least explore the consequences and the savings."

Curatolo says she thinks the decision is being rushed. It's possible she'll ask to delay the decision on Thursday.

"I think we ought to slow down the process a little bit," Curatolo offered.

Superintendent Dennis Thompson says he has not had a chance to look at the Teamsters' proposal, but told the board tonight that changing the custodian's healthcare plan is something that would take months, and right now the district has just two weeks to balance its budget.

Thompson and executives with GCA Services, the company that administrators are recommending be hired to take over custodial services for the Collier County schools say that all current janitors will be hired by the new company.

The pay scale, however is one to four dollars less an hour, and the janitors say they'll also have to pay more for medical benefits.