New Haven Independent

The firm, Aramark, a global managed services company, has been associated with NHPS since 1994, and its responsibilities have been growing. A gift of $50,000 from the company to establish scholarships for NHPS students was made at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, the latest sign of a growing partnership.

In accepting the gift from Aramark executives, including, right to left, Andrew Butler, Laurie Ricci, and Dennis Brockman, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Reggie Mayo (far left in the photo) said, “We have a group of kids who should be college-bound but who happen perhaps not to have parents pushing them in that direction. Maybe for financial reasons. Or maybe these kids and their families are not aware of opportunities right in their front door. These funds from Aramark will go to providing opportunities specifically for this group. The mayor has been asking me to locate some funding for this group, and Aramark has come through.”

It is not unusual for a large vendor to make philanthropic gifts to a client. According to Dennis Brockman, Aramrak’s vice president for operations, the company has supported NHPS in years past, but this is the first gift specifically for college scholarship. “We value our thirteen-year relationship,” said Brockman, “and we’re giving the gift in the spirit of the NHPS’s system-wide goal: by 2008 to have 95 percent of students college or job-ready.”

Aramark, which is headquartered in Philadelphia, manages food and facility services in 51 elementary, middle, and high schools of the NHPS. But that is only the tip of the managerial iceberg for this global company. With 240,000 employees, it also manages health systems, sports venues, and, in the U.S., various food and facilities portfolios for 650 other kindergarten-through grade twelve school systems throughout the United States.

After the presentation, a reporter was able to ask several naïve questions about the nuts-and-bolts of Aramark’s relationship with NHPS. Andrew Butler, Aramark’s executive director for facilities services, and Laurie Ricci, the district manager for facilities (middle and left in the photo), provided some answers.

NHI: Do the food workers, the custodians, and maintenance people in the NHPS system work for Aramark or for NHPS?

Aramark: No, they all work for the NHPS. Our managers supervise the workforce up to the level of supervisors. We started in food services in 1994, added facilities, which include custodial, grounds, and maintenance, and, since 2003 we have added engineering management services, which has grown to include energy saving measures.

NHI: What if there’s a labor dispute? Where do you sit?

Aramark: We sit on the side of management, who hired us. But we function as facilitators.

NHI: Why is this outsourcing or sub-contracting advantageous to NHPS?

Aramark: As school infrastructures age, they need more and changing care. Building systems also grow more complicated, and school systems often can’t keep up, don’t have the knowledge and technical know-how that we have. Our motto is that we focus on food, and facilities so that the schools can focus on education.

NHI: We’ve heard that the school system has made great strides in energy conservation. Is this Aramark’s handiwork?

Aramark: In our contract with NHPS we state simply that we will guarantee a minimum of $250,000 in savings off the school system’s energy bill every year. If we don’t achieve that, we agree to waive the annual fee.

NHI: And how are we doing?

Aramark: We’ve been doing the energy management aspect since 2004, and we’ve saved the NHPS on average $1 million a year.

NHI: Can you give me an example or two?

Aramark: OK. If all the schools turn on the HVAC systems at once, at the same time, it’s like turning on 7,000 hair driers. What happens? The lights dim a little. At peak demand time, you pay peak rates to the electric companies. We’ve worked out a system of staggering what we call the equipment run times, and the savings are substantial.

NHI: Anything else that comes to mind?

Aramark: Simple things. For example, we monitor all the energy bills. Recently I came across a bill for $487,000 for electrical services for one school. Now we know a school doesn’t use anywhere near that in a full year. So there’s probably a decimal point that’s off. A clerk at the power company should have caught this, but we did.

Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo, NHPS’s director of communications, said, “Our kids are doing better and better and receiving more scholarships both from the colleges themselves and the Greater New Haven community. All told, I think the seniors attract significant scholarship support, but this grant from Aramark will be a very important addition.”

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