That employee, Desmond McQuoid, was the custodial supervisor of the district.

Until now it was the custodial supervisor who rated the job performance, which then had a significant bearing on whether a custodian was assigned to a desirable school.

Under privatization, he said, the custodial supervisor was seldom at the school, and emergency chores went undone.

They also hope to make custodial supervisors, who now belong to the custodians' union, independent of the union and its members.

That includes the board's custodial supervisors, who have not exercised effective oversight.

The custodial supervisor replied, "I was just going to say that someone else phoned it in about five or ten minutes ago.

His father, Joe, was a World War II veteran and Cranston school janitor who worked his way up to become custodial supervisor of the city's school system.

But what if that janitor could be trained and guided into work as a painter, an electrician, a groundskeeper or a custodial supervisor?

P.S. 219 is one of more than 200 schools maintained by private contractors, in this case Temco Service Industries, instead of unionized custodial supervisors.

The current plant manager system, which established custodial supervisors who are independent of the union, was started in 1988 as a way to eliminate abuses by the custodians.