http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=76000


October 7, 2006
Janitorial firm claims reputation is damaged
By Mike Sakal
Tribune
Robert Lemus-Retana




ABM Janitorial Services has filed a $25 million legal claim against the Scottsdale Unified School District, alleging the district made misleading and damaging statements about the company, which have affected its business reputation. The notice of claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, is dated Sept. 20. A supplement to the 83-page legal document is dated Tuesday - the same day the district governing board gathered for nearly three hours in a closed-door meeting and later made a decision to temporarily delay severing its contract with the company.

The document aims to stop the district from releasing any further negative publicity or what it claims are inaccurate statements against the company.

Roberto Lemus-Retana, 26, an ABM janitorial worker, who is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at Saguaro High School on Aug. 25. He has been charged with felony counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

If convicted, L emus-Retana could face 21 years to life in prison, according to Lemus-Retana's attorney, Jose Montano.

In the aftermath, the district announced it planned to sever its contract with ABM, alleging the company breached contract terms by not conducting thorough enough checks on the 92 ABM custodians who work in Scottsdale schools.

"We felt that a lot of the publicity to ABM in the aftermath of this incident was not accurate or true," said Michael Poli, attorney for ABM. "The district put the blame on ABM for things that were out of its control. ABM checked all of the documents Mr. Lemus-Retana provided to show his eligibility to work."

School officials would not comment, or were unavailable for comment, on the notice of claim Friday.

The district's governing board voted unanimously to delay the decision to sever ABM's contract for 30 days Tuesday night. The district then issued a news release that said ABM has implemented additional measures requested by the district, and the district expected ABM to "commit to providing enhanced services."

District spokeswoman Maureen O'Leary said after that meeting that the safety measures would remain in place during the 30-day extension and that the district would take direction from the governing board. However, she said she couldn't elaborate on what "enhanced services" meant, and reiterated that in an email Wednesday.

On Thursday, board member Eric Meyer told the Tribune during an editorial meeting on an unrelated topic that he couldn't comment on ABM at that time.

According to the claim, ABM contends that "Scottsdale Unified Schools knowingly, and with reckless disregard, lashed out at ABM to deflect the public and media pressure surrounding the alleged rape of a student by a janitor on its school grounds. At the very least, SUSD negligently failed to ascertain the truth of its statements before carelessly circulating them to the press."

The district required ABM to do criminal background checks of workers on its campuses in Arizona and in other jurisdictions, according to the contract. In a Sept. 11 press release, the district claimed that ABM failed to check criminal histories of its employees in other states.

ABM has maintained it met all the stipulations of the contract. Copyright © 2006 Freedom Communications / Arizona. Displayed by permission. All rights reserved.
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