The Warren County Board of Education plans to retain the services of a national janitorial provider at the new South Warren Middle and High School despite that company’s record of placing workers with criminal backgrounds in schools – including drug and sex offenders.

Beginning July 1, GCA Services Group of Knoxville, Tenn., will provide custodial services at the school for a year, even though one of its employees in Tennessee was charged in 2008 with the rape of a 16-year-old student on school property and the company placed a registered sex offender in a Texas middle school. That employee was later found dead in a school locker room of accidental asphyxiation.

Warren County Public School officials knew nothing about the incidents and were not aware of hiring and screening issues with the contractor when contacted by the Daily News on Thursday. However, after consulting with the company, Warren County Superintendent Tim Murley said Friday that the district will proceed with plans to use GCA’s services based on assurances from the company that the problems had been satisfactorily addressed.

GCA, one of six bidders for custodial and grounds maintenance at the school, was awarded the job in early April based on its bid of $315,024 for 110 hours of work per week. The low bidder on the job was Service Solutions, also of Knoxville, with $308,944 for 80 hours of work per week. Service Solutions also submitted an alternative bid of $329,397 that included 160 hours per week. GCA was chosen for cost savings and because the low bidder did not offer the amount of hours needed for the job, according to school officials.

“I did not know anything about this,” Murley said when informed of the incidents Thursday. “Obviously, we will go back and look at this but it does not sound good.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of any of this,” said school board Chairman Mike Wilson on Thursday. “The first thing we will do is contact GCA Services to verify that this is true. Then we will get an explanation as to what they are doing to avoid these problems that have happened in the past, make sure they are doing everything in their power to avoid what has happened in the past. The safety of our students is our first concern and that will not be compromised by this contractor or any other.”

After consulting with GCA, however, Murley and Wilson said Friday that the board will not reconsider the bid.

“Based on the information and assurances we have received from them, I don’t see the board reconsidering at this point,” Wilson said. “We have been assured that they have taken proper measures and put effective screening procedures in place since these events occurred two years ago.”

GCA Services is a provider of janitorial and custodial services, contamination control in manufacturing, facilities maintenance, grounds management, labor management and staffing services, according to the company’s website. The company also claims to have 20,000 employees and “hold numerous Fortune 100 companies as our clients and maintain an exceptional client retention rate of 94 percent.”

“Yes, we do intend to go ahead with GCA,” Murley said Friday. “We have spoken with GCA Services and have been assured that their background checks and quality of hire is equivalent to our own.”

GCA will be hiring local people who meet the same standards of clean background checks as the school system’s, according to Murley. The school district also has taken the additional precaution of locally screening employee candidate background information, he added.

“So in essence, we have a say in who works for this company in our schools,” Murley said. “We have spoken with officials from the company who compassionately regret what has happened, but assured us they do everything they can to avoid such catastrophes the best they can. We have checked references where the company works in school systems. We feel they will safely employ the same high-quality, safety-minded individuals that we would place in these capacities ourselves. If we felt in any way uncomfortable with GCA regarding the safety of our students, we would not go forward. Student safety is always our number one priority.”

The first incident in question involves a GCA employee working at Huntingdon (Tenn.) High School, who was charged with raping a 16-year-old student in a closet during school hours. The employee, after being arrested, was found to have a criminal record with charges of aggravated battery, assault and theft of property.

A Jackson, Tenn., newspaper identified the man as Christopher Johnson, of McKenzie, Tenn., and reported that he was also a pastor in a local church.

The second incident involved a GCA employee and registered sex offender who was working as a custodian at Chisholm Trail Middle School in Rhome, Texas, where he was found dead in a school locker room. The man, who had been convicted of indecent exposure in 2006, was found with his pants down and a bag over his head. Investigators determined the cause of death was accidental asphyxiation.

The employee had passed a background check because he used an alias, according to Bernie Decker, GCA vice president of human resources. Since that time, the company has implemented a number of security measure that “will go a long way” toward preventing that type of fraud from occurring again, Decker said.

The company now, by law, uses fingerprinting and Social Security number checks in establishing an individual’s identity, according to Decker. “You have to understand, we hire a lot of people,” he said. “I think a couple of incidents with 20,000 employees is a pretty good batting record.”

Decker added that both the Texas and Tennessee school districts where the incidents occurred still contract with GCA.

GCA says it services more than 150 school districts in 39 states.

It will employ 15 workers at South Warren Middle and High School when it opens in August as the largest school in Kentucky by square-footage.

“The district made the decision to use contract custodial services because it has become apparent that it is the most cost-effective system,” said Joanie Hendricks, Warren County public information coordinator. “We are able to save taxpayers’ dollars while still using local workers.”

The district does not contract for custodial services for its other schools.

GCA has assured the school systems that since improving their screening techniques and using a fingerprinting background check, they also screen through a national database for sex offenders, outstanding warrants and previous felony convictions, according to Hendricks.

“They have told us that in all of the incidents that have received negative publicity, they have maintained a working relationship with those school districts,” she said. “Those officials also told us that the administrators within those districts stated they would have hired those same individuals based on the background checks they utilize.”

Because there are not yet grounds to be maintained at South Warren – due to the fact that construction is ongoing – the school district has not yet awarded a bid for grounds maintenance. That bid will be handled separately and could potentially go to a bidder other than GCA.