Maya McFadden Photo
School board members at the Aug. 25 meeting.
The Board of Education voted to pay $95,000 to one of the city school district’s landscaping contractors, Cheapscapes LLC, for another year of work — after New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) leaders promised to better document and evaluate contractors.
That’s the latest with the NHPS landscaping contract that was tabled last month after Board of Education members raised concerns about Cheapscapes’ work for NHPS in recent years.
Kelly Brennan, a co-owner of Cheapscapes, spoke up at the board’s latest meeting on Aug. 25 at King/Robinson School in support of a renewed contract with NHPS. She spoke about how Cheapscapes has worked with the district for the past five years.
Board of Education member Andrea Downer has spoken up in recent meetings with concerns about Cheapscapes’ landscaping services, saying that several schools in the district had grass that wasn’t cut consistently and overgrown vegetation that created safety hazards last year. That comes after Cheapscapes also drew criticism from several board members over how it handled snowplowing work during major snow events last winter.
Brennan spoke up during public comment at last Monday’s meeting on behalf of her fellow co-owner Robert Brennan to “address misconceptions about Cheapscapes.”
She said that she had sent a letter to the Board of Ed requesting clarity on recent comments made by the board and emphasized Cheapscapes’ dedication and service to NHPS.
As a small business participating in the city’s Small Contractor Development Program, Brennan said, Cheapscapes has been able to provide landscaping services for NHPS for five years, maintaining 21 schools without any formal complaints.
She added that “previous statements made at Board of Education meetings were inaccurate and unfair.”
She requested information on the criteria NHPS uses to evaluate Cheapscapes’ work over the past five years. She also asked for clarification about “slanderous claims” made at the Board of Ed’s past meeting that “Cheapscapes has done us wrong” and that “Cheapscapes is not a good vendor.”
She said that the board has repeatedly asked its facilities vendor ABM for reports on its contractor performance evaluation system, but “to our knowledge, no such evaluation system has ever been implemented.”
Cheapscapes has not received any documentation over the years indicating unsatisfactory contract performance, Brennan noted.
She concluded by saying that past issues related to last year’s snow plowing incident should not be connected to the vendor’s separate landscaping services.
“Cheapscapes does not hold any additional landscaping contracts and has consistently focused on offering the best services solely to New Haven,” Brennan said. “We support a fair evaluation system that applies consistent standards to all vendors and measures overall performance and not isolated snow incidents. We suggest you evaluate us on our entire landscaping performance, which is undeniably good.”
In advance of the vote, Downer — this time without directly naming Cheapscapes — said that over her past two years on the Board of Ed, she’s seen unkempt grounds at schools.
She said that the lack of good landscaping services has created safety hazards and limited outdoor learning spaces, and has led to leaves covering emergency exits and accessible ramps being blocked by overgrown vegetation.
“Just last year, our schools experienced egregious overgrowth that didn’t prevent hazards and definitely did not support our outdoor learning and play,” Downer said.
She said that the district should adapt a district-wide green school yards initiative with “capable vendors.”
The Board of Ed ultimately voted 6 – 1 to approve the contract, with Downer as the only “absolutely no.”
Board member Matt Wilcox said before the vote, “I’m happy to see as a part of this that there is a system in place that’s outlined in the memo for documenting performance that will generate evidence for future decision making if that is needed.”
He concluded that in November, the Finance and Operations Committee will review the performance of all landscaping services.
Meanwhile, at Tuesday’s latest meeting of the Finance and Operations Committee, NHPS Chief of School Operations (CSO) Paul Whyte said that the city’s public works department helped the school district cut grass at the main areas of schools for the first day of school.