SOUTH PORTLAND – A task force charged with finding ways to reduce custodial costs in the South Portland School Department has recommended a plan that would save nearly $400,000 a year by eliminating the equivalent of eight full-time positions.

The group, which included two school board members, two custodians and two South Portland School Department officials, met nine times between Sept. 20 and Dec. 6. Members of the task force presented the recommendations to the Board of Education on Dec. 13.

To achieve the anticipated savings, the task force recommended the restructuring of custodial services throughout the district. Rick Carter, who chaired the task force and is the vice chairman of the Board of Education, said the potential restructuring could mean a loss of eight custodial jobs, some of which are currently vacant.

Under the proposal, the equivalent of two full-time positions between the Brown, Dyer, Kaler and Small elementary schools would be lost, saving up to $117,208. Two vacant positions at the middle school level, one full-time and one part-time, would go unfilled, saving $65,296. At the high school, eliminating two full-time positions, including one that is vacant, and a part-time position could save just over $113,000.

Additional saving could be realized, the report said, by reducing the custodial staffs at both Memorial and Mahoney middle schools from the equivalent of five full-time positions to the equivalent of four full-time custodians, and replacing one position at each school with a day porter. That could save each school just under $49,000.

The proposal would also alter the department’s custodial schedule, Carter said, in an effort to make sure custodians are in the various school buildings when they can clean most efficiently.

The task force suggests that the recommendations implemented be evaluated at the end of the fiscal year to determine if any savings were achieved and if the recommendations made for more effective custodial services. This, the task force’s report states, would determine if the changes should become permanent.

The option of totally outsourcing custodial service was also brought up through the task force’s discussions. If this was done, according to the reports, the department could save between $800,000 and $1 million.

Carter said the topic of outsourcing custodial service has been brought up in the past to the concern of many community members, school officials and the custodians themselves.

“At this point, we felt if we could find substantial savings without outsourcing, that would be the path to take right now, with the knowledge if the budget situation worsened in the future, a complete outsourcing is available to us,” Carter said.

The problem, as it was indicated in the report, is “once a commitment to outsourcing is made, reverting back to an in-house custodial model will require some effort if indeed outsourcing turns out to not be the panacea it was considered to be.”

Carter said he anticipates the recommendations will be accepted by the Superintendent of Schools and be discussed as part of the upcoming school budget process.