Natomas Unified School District

Transcription

Natomas Unified
School District
Organizational Review
December 22, 2011
Prepared By:
Sheila G. Vickers
Vice President
Michele A. Huntoon, CPA
Associate Vice President
Kathleen O’Sullivan
Assistant Director, Management Consulting
Services
Natomas Unified
School District
December 22, 2011
Prepared By:
Sheila G. Vickers
Vice President
Michele A. Huntoon, C.P.A.
Associate Vice President
Kathleen O’Sullivan
Assistant Director, Management Consulting Services
Copyright © 2011 by
School Services of California, Inc.
1121 L Street, Suite 1060
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 446-7517
FAX (916) 446-2011
www.sscal.com
All rights reserved. These materials may not be duplicated in any
way without the expressed written consent of School Services of
California, Inc., except in the form of brief excerpts or quotations
or as a teaching guide to employees of the school agency or
organization that contracted for this report. Making copies of this
report or any portion for any purpose other than your own or as
noted above, is a violation of United States copyright laws.
NATOMAS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L R E V I E W — December 22, 2011
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................ 1 Organizational Culture and Structure ........................................................................... 1 Leadership and Communication .................................................................................... 2 Human Resources .......................................................................................................... 3 Educational Services ...................................................................................................... 3 Financial Services .......................................................................................................... 4 School Site Administrative and Office Staffing .............................................................. 4 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 5 Organizational Review .................................................................................. 6 Purpose.......................................................................................................................... 6 Scope of the Review ...................................................................................................... 6 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 7 Organizational Review .................................................................................. 8 Organizational Culture and Structure ........................................................................... 9 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 10 Leadership and Communication .................................................................................. 12 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 13 Human Resources ........................................................................................................ 14 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 18 Educational Services .................................................................................................... 21 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 24 Business Services Department ..................................................................................... 25 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 27 Financial Services Department ............................................................................................ 28 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 34 Food Services Department .................................................................................................. 39 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 43 Technology Department ..................................................................................................... 45 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 48 Facilities and Planning Department ..................................................................................... 49 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 51 Transportation .................................................................................................................... 52 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 55 School Site Administrative and Office Staffing ............................................................ 57 Principals and Assistant Principals ....................................................................................... 57 Health Services ................................................................................................................... 58 Counseling Services ............................................................................................................ 59 Secretaries .......................................................................................................................... 60 Student Records and Attendance ......................................................................................... 61 Essential Needs ................................................................................................................... 61 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................. 62 Copyright © 2011 by School Services of California, Inc.
O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L R E V I E W — December 22, 2011
District Office Staffing Comparison ............................................................ 64 Comparisons Based on School Districts of Similar Size ............................................... 64 District Office Staffing ......................................................................................................... 64 Organizational Charts ......................................................................................................... 97 School Site Staffing Comparison .................................................................. 97 Appendix A—Current Natomas USD Organizational Charts ..................... 111 Appendix B—Proposed Natomas USD Organizational Charts ................... 116 Appendix C—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts: Superintendent’s
Office and Cabinet .............................................................. 120 Appendix D—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts: Business
Services................................................................................ 124 Appendix E—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts: Educational
Services................................................................................ 128 Appendix F—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts: Facilities,
Planning, Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation .... 132 Appendix G—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts: Human
Resources............................................................................. 134 Appendix H—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts: Student Services
............................................................................................ 138 Copyright © 2011 by School Services of California, Inc.
D I S T R I C T O F F I C E O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L S T U D Y — December 22, 2011
1
Executive Summary
The Natomas Unified School District (District) requested that School Services of California,
Inc., (SSC) conduct a District Office and school site administrative organizational review of the
District. The objective of the review was to assess the existing organizational structures and the
functions within Business Services, Educational Services, Human Resources, and Facilities,
Planning, and Transportation, as well as between each department. The review is designed to
address the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing administrative structure, as well as the
adequacy of District Office and school site administrative staffing levels in support of the
educational program both in the short and long term.
SSC conducted onsite interviews with District Office and school site administrators and support
staff in evaluating the effectiveness of the existing organizational structure and its impact on the
culture and mission of the District. SSC also reviewed documents provided by the District and
conducted a staffing survey among a group of comparative districts. The comparative districts
are those districts in the state that are closest to Natomas in size and base revenue limit funding
per student. The data collected supports SSC’s analysis of the District’s current and future
staffing needs.
The comparative analysis, which includes a review of full-time equivalents (FTEs) by
department, follows our review and analysis of the organizational culture and structure of the
District.
The rest of this Executive Summary reflects the most significant findings and recommendations
resulting from our review for the following particular areas.
Organizational Culture and Structure
As the District was growing and new positions were added, there was enough workload in a
specific functional area to justify a unique job description for many positions in the District. As
the District’s enrollment has declined and positions have been eliminated, many of the remaining
positions are too narrow in scope to allow the incumbent to pick up extra duties as their own
workload has declined. Even though each job description includes the essential duty of
“performs other duties as assigned that support the overall objective of the position,” in many
cases this statement and the overall objective of the position are being interpreted very narrowly.
As a result, the District is paying out-of-class pay on a regular basis in order to ensure that the
work gets done. In other situations, the workload is not equitable between positions within the
same work unit and between work units. This situation has also resulted in some confusion as to
whom is responsible for which functions as staffing has been reduced.
Copyright © 2011 by School Services of California, Inc.
2
We recommend that the District revise its job descriptions throughout the district to be more
broad and flexible in scope. The District has the right and the responsibility to determine the
functions that need to be performed in each department and at school sites. There needs to be a
coordinated effort to establish job classifications, job families, and job descriptions that are broad
enough in scope to meet the functional needs of the District now and in the future, especially
considering that the decline in student enrollment is expected to continue, which means that
staffing will continue to be constricted as a result. The overall structure of job descriptions needs
to ensure, wherever possible, that there are opportunities for employees to advance into higher
levels of responsibility and that there are more homogeneous positions to provide flexibility in
staffing and to back up essential functions.
There is an epidemic of absenteeism in the District. Based upon employee absence data for last
year, 36% of the employees in the District used up their annual allocation of sick leave and 18%
more than exhausted their extended sick leave entitlement of 100 days per year. This reflects a
culture of entitlement and not holding employees and their supervisors accountable for managing
potential misuse of leave. This is one of the reasons why services to other departments and
school sites are substandard—other employees are required to cover the essential duties of
employees that are absent and are not able to get their own duties done. Many times there are not
enough substitutes to fill in where required because of the number of absences on a given day.
This situation is unfair to employees who are not absent and are trying to do their jobs, and it is
unfair to the other staff, the public, and the students that are adversely impacted by a reduction in
service levels. It also exacerbates the District’s budget problems.
We recommend that the District make a concerted effort to ensure that employee absences are
appropriately managed. The rules and enforcement mechanisms need to be made clear to
employees. Supervisors should be provided training on the rules established for employee leaves,
and it should be clear that they will be held responsible for managing their employees’ leaves in
order to avoid unnecessary absences and to hold employees accountable when the rules are not
followed. The District should monitor employee leaves closely to ensure that leave limitations
are not exceeded and that employees are notified of situations where leaves will run
concurrently.
Leadership and Communication
Most of the top leaders in the District are new to their positions, and are also new or at least
relatively new to the District. The Superintendent and Cabinet meet on a weekly basis and are in
sync with current initiatives and priorities to move the District forward. Many staff members
perceive the new leadership as an opportunity to develop a more effective organization that is
centered around kids; other staff members perceive the new leadership as an interruption to “the
way things have always been done” and fully expect that this will be temporary until there is
3
more turnover in top leadership. The change in leadership has provided an opportunity to revisit
policies or practices of the past that are problematic in moving forward.
We recommend that the District seize this opportunity to make significant cultural changes
modeled from the top down. Part of the District’s strategic initiatives should include establishing
a lasting culture of service, responsibility, and accountability. Policies that establish appropriate
accountability and responsibilities should be reviewed, updated as necessary, and communicated
to the staff members involved. All staff should receive training on standards of behavior and
ethics, and then should be held accountable for all areas of their performance.
Human Resources
The District’s position control system should be a joint effort that is primarily overseen by
Business Services and Human Resources, but requires the training and cooperation of all
managers of the District in following appropriate procedures. Position control is the method by
which the District manages the lion’s share of its budget—the salaries and benefits provided to
staff throughout the District. The District is using multiple databases for position control
purposes, and as a result, there are inconsistencies of the data, staff members are not able to work
as efficiently and effectively as they otherwise could, and some controls are lacking. To ensure
accuracy, Human Resources and Business Services staff would need to invest significant time on
a continuous basis to reconcile data with the position control system—time that they do not have
in the current operational environment.
We recommend that the District move to a fully integrated database for position control and
follow a prescriptive process for authorizing personnel requisitions before Human Resources
takes action to implement them.
Educational Services
The District is increasing the use of student achievement data to drive decisions and inform
instruction, and this need is expected to expand in the future. There is currently a significant
effort underway being overseen by the Educational Services Department to implement a new
data management system. The District has purchased the new system and the Educational
Services Department is providing training sessions for staff members that will be users of the
system. The Department is also spearheading the implementation of professional learning
communities, which will feed into the response to intervention model that the District is moving
toward. These and other educational initiatives require strong leadership and strong coordination
with all of the other departments and school site staff that need to be involved to ensure
successful implementation. There were concerns expressed by interviewees at school sites about
4
the ability of the lean staff in Educational Services to be able to fully support the sites as they
implement these initiatives.
Understanding that the District is emerging from a serious fiscal crisis, we do not take lightly a
recommendation to add staff. We believe that, if the District is to effectively move forward with
its educational goals and initiatives, strong leadership and coordination is needed from the
District Office to the school sites. We recommend that the District consider adding a Director
position in Educational Services to support this effort, which could include more focus on
educational alternatives, coordinating categorical funds with curriculum, and assisting teachers
and site administrators in the use of student data to modify methods and improve results in
meeting standards.
Financial Services
There are a number of manual processes that should be automated and there are multiple
databases used for similar functions, both of which serve to reduce efficiency and effectiveness.
We make detailed recommendations in the later sections of this report to address this issue in the
fixed asset inventory system, the purchase requisition system, timecards, absence reporting,
position control, and other operational areas.
Based upon the size of the District, the number of positions, and comparable data from other
similarly sized districts, the District has more staff than other comparable Fiscal Services
departments. Later in the report we make detailed recommendations to restructure the
department and revise job descriptions.
School Site Administrative and Office Staffing
The District has reduced staff over time, with declining enrollment and budget cuts, at both the
District Office and at school sites. In our review of the staffing levels for administrative and
office support at the school sites, we determined that the most significant needs exist in the areas
of counseling and health services at all levels, and for administration at larger elementary
schools. We make recommendations that the District prepare staffing allocations for each type of
position, which would include ensuring that the number of days for each position is appropriate
to the level of services necessary – for example, what school site staff members are needed
beyond the school year, and for how long? Staffing allocations can be used to adjust staffing
with changes in the student population. We make further recommendations that the District
consider augmenting staff in the areas of most significant need.
5
Conclusion
The following report provides detailed analysis and recommendations for each department at the
District Office and for school site administrative and office staffing. We realize that this report
contains numerous recommendations, some of which would require lengthy planning and
implementation time as well as perhaps additional funding. We encourage the District to
consider all of the recommendations and develop a priority list with an implementation target
date and the identification of the employee responsible for implementation. A reporting system
with established dates for providing updates to the Superintendent and Cabinet, as well as to the
Board of Education, should be implemented.
6
Purpose
The District requested that SSC conduct a District Office and school site administrative
organizational study of the District. The objective of the review was to assess the existing
organizational structures and the functions within Business Services, Educational Services,
Human Resources, and Facilities, Planning, and Transportation, as well as between each
department. Upon completion of this review and evaluation, we offer findings and
recommendations, where appropriate, for organizational changes to improve communication and
operational efficiencies, and that we believe will ensure that the District is positioned for
continued success. The majority of school districts in California are faced with declining
enrollment, and the District is no exception. The District is challenged with maintaining
academic rigor and fiscal stability while dealing with declining enrollment and state funding
cuts, all to ensure that the District will continue to meet the needs of the students and the
community in future years.
Our findings are intended to provide a basis for management decisions and actions. Our goal is
to provide a current evaluation of District Office and school site administrative staffing and to
provide recommendations to inform the future staffing plans of the District.
Scope of the Review
The organizational review had a very specific scope to include:
An analysis of the current organizational structure
An analysis of current job requirements and the effectiveness of the positions at the District
Office and in school site administration
A review of processes, procedures, and practices to determine opportunities for operational
improvements
An evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of the current organizational structure
Recommendations for assigning/reassigning work duties, where appropriate
Identification and suggested elimination of duplicated or unnecessary work
Identification of ways to better integrate and coordinate administrative functions
7
The organizational review is designed to address the following essential questions:
Does the existing administrative structure in the District Office and school sites provide
appropriate administrative support for the District? Is the current structure effective?
Efficient?
Do the current administrative practices meet the needs of the teachers and students in
providing timely information and support to the educational program?
How should the organizational arrangement of the District Office and school sites be
amended as school site populations decline and/or to meet future needs?
Methodology
As part of the research, SSC conducted onsite interviews with central office and school site
administrators and support staff to discuss the workload issues of the District administrative
team, support staff workload, channels of communication, division of responsibilities, and
perceived effectiveness of the current organizational structure.
SSC also reviewed documents provided by the District including:
Organizational charts
Employee rosters and position control documents
Job descriptions
Enrollment projections
Workload metrics, where available
In addition, unified school districts were surveyed for comparative staffing data. The
comparative group was created based upon the District’s average daily attendance (ADA) and
base revenue limit funding. Of the nine unified school districts selected based upon the criteria,
we received responses from five districts. They range from an ADA of 9,906 to 11,833 and a
funded base revenue limit per ADA of $5,209 to $5,314. It was important to not only evaluate
the District’s current staffing comparability, but also to analyze the other districts to determine
recommendations for any needed adjustments in administrative staffing structures and levels as
the District moves into the future.
The comparative review required very detailed site and district office staffing data from the
districts selected for comparison. Many districts we surveyed indicated that they were unable to
8
provide the data due to limited staffing in their own districts. The results of the survey are
determined by participation, and while participation fell short of our expectations, we feel that
the responding districts provided a good sampling of the average unified district for each group,
and that the data provides a fair comparative analysis of current and future staffing needs of the
District.
The resulting comparative group consists of the following districts:
Azusa Unified School District (USD)
Ceres USD
El Rancho USD
Lucia Mar USD
Rocklin USD
The comparative group analysis, which includes a review of FTEs by department and division,
follows our review and analysis of leadership and communication structures, the operational
divisions and departments of the District, and school site administration.
The organizational structure plays a key role in an agency’s ability to function effectively. A
well-designed organization clearly specifies decision-making authority, information flow, and
the roles and responsibilities of employees. To attract and retain quality people, there needs to be
a clear career path and progression ladder to enhance the knowledge base and personal
development for employees.
The organizational culture also plays a pivotal role in a district’s ability to achieve established
goals. The collective attitudes, values, and behaviors of individuals and groups within any
organization, and the traditions and norms they share, determine its culture. A strong
organization is one where alignment between organizational values and expectations are aligned
with those of individuals and groups resulting in high productivity, operational efficiency, and
personal and organizational satisfaction. The organizational culture of a district is in part
reflected in its leadership and communication structures and the values and norms within the
leadership team.
9
Organizational Culture and Structure
A student-focused culture is generally evident within the leadership in the District Office and at
the school sites, and with staff members sprinkled throughout. There are many areas of the
District, however, that do not reflect this culture.
The focus of the District Office should be to support the school sites, but this is not evident in
every department and at every level within the departments. Site administrators do recognize that
in some areas of the District Office, the student-focused culture is there but the staff is lean
and/or the leaders are new to their positions. School sites have generally been operating in silos,
doing the best they can on their own; therefore, they believe their efforts are not as focused and
not as productive or as effective as they could be in supporting the District’s goals, most
particularly in the area of student outcomes. They expressed how important it will be to work
more in concert with the District Office and with each other as the District moves forward.
Up until recently, the District experienced rapid enrollment growth—in the decade from
1999-2000 to 2009-10, the District’s enrollment more than doubled. The District was rapidly
adding staff to meet the enrollment needs during this time. However, since the District’s
enrollment reached its peak in 2009-10 at 12,382 students (including charter schools), the
District has been declining in enrollment, mainly due to the shift of students to charter schools
and families moving out of the area. Regular school enrollment is expected to continue declining
in the near future.
With the decline in available financial resources because of declining enrollment, state funding
cuts, and local issues, the District has found it necessary to make significant reductions in
staffing in recent years, and administrative functions have been no exception. This has resulted in
District Office and school site staff covering multiple functions. However, there are many areas
in the District Office and at school sites where there are restrictions on this flexibility because
job descriptions are too narrow.
As the District was growing and new positions were added, there was enough workload in a
specific functional area to justify a unique job description for many positions in the District. As
the District’s enrollment has declined and positions have been eliminated, many of the remaining
positions are too narrow in scope to allow the incumbent to pick up extra duties as their own
workload has declined. Even though each job description includes the essential duty of
“performs other duties as assigned that support the overall objective of the position,” in many
cases this statement and the overall objective of the position are being interpreted very narrowly.
As a result, the District is paying out-of-class pay on a regular basis in order to ensure that the
work gets done. In other situations, the workload is not equitable between positions within the
10
same work unit and between work units. This situation has also resulted in some confusion as to
whom is responsible for which functions as staffing has been reduced.
As the District has evolved over time, whole classes of positions that are stepping stones within
the job family have been eliminated. For example, in the Financial Services Department there are
Accounting Technician I and Accounting Technician III positions, but there is no longer an
Accounting Technician II. This needs to be resolved in order to ensure that the positions that
remain are linked together in a job family in order to provide a clear and attainable career path
for employees.
There is an epidemic of absenteeism in the District. Based upon employee absence data for last
year, 36% of the employees in the District used up their annual allocation of sick leave and 18%
more than exhausted their extended sick leave entitlement of 100 days per year. This reflects a
culture of entitlement and not holding employees and their supervisors accountable for managing
potential misuse of leave. This is one of the reasons why services to other departments and
school sites are substandard—other employees are required to cover the essential duties of
employees that are absent and are not able to get their own duties done. Many times there are not
enough substitutes to fill in where required because of the number of absences on a given day.
This situation is unfair to employees who are not absent and are trying to do their jobs, and it is
unfair to the other staff, the public, and the students that are adversely impacted by a reduction in
service levels. It also exacerbates the District’s budget problems.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1.
Develop initiatives and use all communication channels to develop a student-focused
culture that permeates through all layers of the organization. Expectations for studentfocused customer service and behavior should be specified and used in all levels of the
organization for staff training and evaluations. Staff meetings should include a standing item
to reinforce the student-focused culture. Standards such as answering phone calls within a
certain number of rings, adhering to specific turnaround times for responding to emails,
phone calls, and other queries and requests, and other appropriate behaviors should be
established as appropriate for all District Office departments. Incentive and reward programs
can be developed to recognize staff members who consistently exhibit the behaviors expected
and for those that go above and beyond.
2.
Clarify roles and responsibilities of District Office staff. As circumstances in the District
change, the organizational structure responds by either contracting or expanding positions
and reorganizing operations accordingly. To ensure operational efficiency, it is essential that
any change in roles and responsibilities are clarified and that function charts are updated as a
matter of practice. This information needs to be communicated throughout the organization
11
to clarify which person a team member should go to for a given function and to hold
leadership team members appropriately accountable for the performance of their duties.
3.
Reconstitute job descriptions across the District to be more broad in scope. The District
has the right and the responsibility to determine the functions that need to be performed in
each department and at school sites. There needs to be a coordinated effort to establish job
classifications, job families, and job descriptions that are broad enough in scope to meet the
functional needs of the District now and in the future, especially considering that the decline
in student enrollment is expected to continue, which means that staffing will continue to be
constricted as a result. The overall structure of job descriptions needs to ensure, wherever
possible, that there are opportunities for employees to advance into higher levels of
responsibility and that there are more homogeneous positions to provide flexibility in staffing
and to back up essential functions.
4.
Restructure all positions that have an indicator of “I”, “II”, or “III”. Positions within a
job family should be clearly identified so that employees have a clear path for progressing
from one classification to the next higher classification. If a position with a “II” exists, so
should a position of the same name with a “I”. If a position with a “III” exists, so should a
position with the same name with a “I” and a position with a “II”.
5.
Clarify and enforce the District’s leave policies. The District needs to make a concerted
effort to ensure that employee absences are appropriately managed. The rules and
enforcement mechanisms need to be made clear to employees. Supervisors should be
provided training on the rules established for employee leaves, and it should be clear that
they will be held responsible for managing their employees’ leaves in order to avoid
unnecessary absences and to hold employees accountable when the rules are not followed.
The District should monitor employee leaves closely to ensure that leave limitations are not
exceeded—such as ensuring that the 100 days of extended sick leave for classified
employees is limited to once per year in compliance with Education Code Section
(E.C.) 45196. The District should also ensure that employees are notified of situations where
leaves will run concurrently—for example, leaves allowed under the Family and Medical
Leave Act and California Family Rights Act should run concurrently with sick leave and
extended sick leave in most cases.
6.
Establish a list of substitutes that is of sufficient depth to meet the needs of the District
for any given day. This would start by Human Resources working with site and department
administrators to identify those positions for which a substitute will be needed when an
employee is absent. There may be some positions that would not require a substitute on the
first day, but would if the employee is out several days or more. The District needs to make a
12
concerted effort to attract enough substitutes to ensure that the District’s needs are met every
day, barring very unusual circumstances.
Leadership and Communication
Staff members believe that the Superintendent has both a vision for the District and the
credentials necessary to realize this vision and should be allowed to move the District forward.
The District is using a strategic planning process to develop district-wide goals and objectives,
and to incorporate those goals and objectives into the school site plans.
Most of the top leaders in the District are new to their positions, and are also new or at least
relatively new to the District. The Superintendent and Cabinet meet on a weekly basis and are in
sync with current initiatives and priorities to move the District forward. Many staff members
perceive the new leadership as an opportunity to develop a more effective organization that is
centered around kids; other staff members perceive the new leadership as an interruption to “the
way things have always been done” and fully expect that this will be temporary until there is
more turnover in top leadership. The change in leadership has provided an opportunity to revisit
policies or practices of the past that are problematic in moving forward.
While not within the scope of our review, we did note that the District’s administrative salary
schedule has multiple positions at the same salary levels, but each position is depicted by
different salary range identifiers. This results in 28 ranges identified when many of them reflect
the same salary. Also, we understand that the District has not analyzed its administrative salary
schedule in quite some time in order to ensure that different positions with similar levels of
responsibility and authority are appropriately compensated in relation to one another. Further, the
District has not recently compared its salary schedule and total compensation package to that of
other districts to ensure that it can attract and retain the leaders that it needs to move
forward.There are regular meetings of District leadership with school site leadership, and in our
interviews with administrators, these meetings are perceived as important. Some school site
administrators expressed the need for more collaboration with other school sites in order to
develop best practices and address common issues and needs. They also expressed the need to be
more involved in determining the strategies for moving forward.
The District is implementing a new data system that will be critical in identifying the areas of
student need and developing practices to effectively address those needs. District Office and
school site administrators clearly share the understanding that this data will need focused
attention and analysis and that school sites will need support in the effective use of the data.
13
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Review and revise formal communication structures in light of the strategic plan and
the other recommendations in this report. Structures should explicitly address all formal
communication to key District stakeholders—from the Board and Superintendent, through
the leadership team, to all employees, so that all layers of the organization have the
opportunity to receive the information they need, as well as provide input and feedback on
items when appropriate. Changes in circumstance, whether related to changes in student
enrollment or a reorganization of administrative duties and responsibilities, communication
networks and/or systems, will need to be assessed to ensure they continue to provide
opportunities for stakeholder participation. As a part of this, the District should continue to
communicate on an ongoing basis the vision and goals of the Board and Superintendent so
that all affected employees can focus their efforts toward that end.
2. Enhance reciprocal communications and collaborative decision making whenever
possible. Allowing adequate time for reciprocity will ensure that stakeholders feel supported
as well as valued. Reciprocal communication structures can slow down decision making but
increase ownership and accountability, which is what the District will need moving forward
with its strategic plan and student-focused culture. Evaluating what decisions should, or can
be made, collaboratively, versus what decisions must be made by the Superintendent and/or
Cabinet and then communicated to others is essential. Ensuring that employees understand
the difference is key to maintaining relationships and improving effective communications.
3. Maximize leadership development opportunities. Allow opportunities for District and site
administrators to have professional conversations around the goals of the District and
strategies for accomplishing student outcome objectives. Site administrators especially will
need opportunities to engage in meaningful discourse in order to be able to support the
strategic plan and to develop their own skills as instructional leaders. One object of this effort
would be to ensure that the District’s next generation of top leaders could come from within
the District.
4. Review and restructure the administrative salary schedule as necessary to attract and
retain quality leaders in the District. The District should first give a unique identifier to
every possible salary range on the schedule (currently 9 to 10, depending on whether close
but not exact salary levels are combined into one range). Then the District should determine
which administrative positions have a similar enough level of responsibility to be placed on
the same salary range with others. Then we recommend that the District do a comparability
study every three to five years to determine how the District’s total compensation for each
position compares with that of other districts and then make adjustments to salaries and/or
benefits as needed to remain competitive.
14
5. Take this opportunity to make significant cultural changes. Given that many of the
District’s top leaders are new to their positions as well as to the District, there is an
opportunity to make significant cultural changes modeled from the top down. Part of the
District’s strategic initiatives should include establishing a lasting culture of service,
responsibility, and accountability. Policies that establish appropriate accountability and
responsibilities should be reviewed, updated as necessary, and communicated to the staff
members involved. All staff should receive training on standards of behavior and ethics, and
then should be held accountable for all areas of their performance.
Human Resources
The Human Resources Department is headed up by a certificated Director who is new to the
District this year. The position used to be an Assistant Superintendent, but it was restructured as
part of the budget reductions that were needed. There has been significant turnover in this
position—there have been three different incumbents since the long-time Assistant
Superintendent retired just over a year ago. All of the comparative districts have an Assistant
Superintendent position.
The department’s staffing consists of:
An Administrative Assistant (1.00 FTE), which is a confidential position
A Human Resources Coordinator (1.00 FTE), which is a confidential position
Human Resources Technician II positions (3.00 FTEs), which are classified bargaining unit
positions
A District Receptionist (1.00 FTE), which is a classified bargaining unit position
The current organizational chart for Human Resources can be found in Appendix A.
The Human Resources Department does not have documented desk procedures for all of its
critical functions. There have been attempts made in the past where staff members have started to
document procedures, but this effort has been subordinate to the daily functions of the
department. A lack of desk procedures makes it difficult to provide cross-training to employees,
to provide employees with the opportunity for advancement, and to allow employees to take
vacations without having to make up the workload before and/or after their vacations. And
services to other departments and the schools suffer as a result. In some cases, there can be an
adverse impact on the District’s finances—for example, the District did not prevail in a number
of the layoff hearings last spring because proper procedures were not followed.
15
The Department has a functional organization chart that indicates, for each position below the
Director, the specific functions for which that position is responsible. This is a tool that can be
used by all of the Department’s customers—other departments, school sites, and prospective
employees—to easily determine who to contact in the Department for their particular need. This
streamlines customer service by reducing the number of times a caller or visitor needs to be
passed from one person to the next, as they can make direct contact with the person that would
most likely be able to help them.
The Human Resources Coordinator and one of the Human Resources Technician II positions
focus primarily on certificated staffing. One area of potential vulnerability is in the area of
credentials. The alignment of certificated staff assignments to credentials is a very detailed and
technical area that has the potential for compliance issues and significant penalties as a result.
The Coordinator has the breadth of experience in this area and has been providing training to
other staff to back up this function. However, other staff would not be able to fulfill the duties in
this area if the Coordinator were suddenly not available. The maintenance of current employee
credentialing information and appropriate assignments, as well as the notifications to and follow
up with employees that are in need of credential renewal or attainment, are critical Human
Resources functions.
As discussed previously in this report, employee absences in the District are excessive. This
situation reflects a lack of training, leave tracking, follow-up, and enforcement of the proper
procedures. Human Resources is the hub for this information and needs to be proactive in
providing managers and staff with the tools needed to ensure that leave policies are adhered to.
Through our interviews with staff members throughout the District, we have learned that
evaluations of staff—especially managers and classified staff—have not been done on a regular
basis or have not been done at all. The Human Resources Department sends out lists to site and
department managers indicating the staff members for which they need to prepare evaluations
that year, and a significant number of the evaluations are not done. There were some situations
where certificated bargaining unit staff did not get evaluated during the year they should have,
and the District is remedying that by evaluating all certificated staff this year. Site administrators
acknowledge that this situation was unusual and was due to the closure of a school site—those
staff members were not included on the lists that went to site administrators for evaluation.
However, for other staff members, the lack of evaluations is the norm.
There are functional areas within Human Resources in significant need of appropriate staffing,
such as classified personnel transactions, Workers’ Compensation, and management of employee
leaves. As discussed above, management of employee leaves is critical for ensuring that policies
are adhered to and that service levels, productivity, and District finances don’t suffer as a result.
In the area of classified personnel transactions, one of the Human Resources Technician II
16
positions has had that responsibility for many years and the depth of knowledge in the other staff
members is not sufficient to cover the essential duties if necessary. Workers’ Compensation was
the responsibility of a position in Human Resources that has been eliminated, and the duties have
been shifted to become one of the many duties of the Administrative Assistant. The management
of the Workers’ Compensation program is important to the employees involved as well as to the
District. Employees need to be assured that they receive the benefits to which they are entitled,
and that they are either transitioned back into the work force as soon as appropriate or their
condition is determined to be permanent and they are returned to work either with or without
reasonable accommodations. It is in the District’s interest to bring injured employees back to
work as soon as appropriate and to carefully manage each case—this is an area of considerable
financial risk. The lack of adequate case management can lead to the granting of unnecessary
paid leaves and/or fraudulent claims, the consequences of which can affect morale as well as the
fiscal well being of the District.
The District’s position control system should be a joint effort that is primarily overseen by
Business Services and Human Resources, but requires the training and cooperation of all
managers of the District in following appropriate procedures. Position control is the method by
which the District manages the lion’s share of its budget—the salaries and benefits provided to
staff throughout the District. The District is using multiple databases for position control
purposes, and as a result, there are inconsistencies of the data, staff members are not able to work
as efficiently and effectively as they otherwise could, and some controls are lacking. To ensure
accuracy, Human Resources staff would need to invest significant time on a continuous basis to
reconcile data with the position control system—time that they do not have in the current
operational environment. The findings and recommendations in this area are further discussed in
the “Financial Services” section that follows in this report.
The Human Resources Technician II positions are responsible for backing up the District
Receptionist position. While there is another person stationed at the front desk, the position is
that of a Bus Pass Technician, which reports to another department. Between furlough days,
vacations, and other leaves taken by the people at the front desk, the Human Resources
Technician II positions are significantly less productive because of the amount of time required
to back up the District Receptionist position.
As mentioned above, there are three Human Resources Technician II positions in the department,
which would normally indicate that there is at least one Technician I position that can grow into
the Technician II. A job description exists for a Human Resources Technician I position, but the
position no longer exists in the District. The next lower position is that of District Receptionist,
which does not involve technical human resources-related responsibilities; there is a significant
jump in technical responsibilities from this position to the Human Resources Technician II
position.
17
There are a number of situations where school sites have not had classroom substitutes in place
at the beginning of the school day, and administrators or other certificated staff members have
been required to cover the classes or classes have been combined. This can result in an increased
cost to the District and a disruptive learning environment for students. Based upon interviews
with staff members across the District, there appear to be several causes of this:
Teachers do not provide adequate notification to the substitute calling system when absences
are pre-planned (such as release time for conferences, training, or adjunct work)
In order to comply with the requirement of E.C. 44956(a)(5) to provide substitute work
opportunities to the employees on the 39-month reemployment list first, the automated
substitute calling system will contact these employee first, but many of them will not accept
the opportunity for the substitute work. It takes a significant amount of time to work through
the employees on the 39-month reemployment list, and then to begin calling the regular pool
of substitutes if necessary, to secure enough substitutes for the openings.
The District Receptionist begins work at 7:45 a.m. to ensure that the substitute calling system
has been properly engaged in making the calls and securing substitutes. The backup person
for this process is the Human Resources Technician II that arrives at 8:00 a.m. This is too
late to adequately address last-minute issues in substitute assignments, as most school sites
begin instruction between 7:45 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. School site staff often arrive by 7:00 a.m.
or 7:30 a.m. when they check on the status of substitutes, but they often need assistance from
the District Office staff members who are not available until at least 7:45 a.m.
Not all staff members are using the substitute calling system to report their absences. There can
be significant benefits realized if all staff members are trained on and use the substitute calling
system. First, the District would have one database that would contain all of the absence data for
all employees, which can be used to feed the leave tracking process and the payroll process.
Second, there are a number of positions other than classroom teaching positions that require
substitutes when an employee is absent—for example, instructional assistants, bus drivers, and
custodians. The automated calling system can be utilized for calling these substitutes as well.
Third, if there is a standard process district wide for all employees to call in their absences, the
enforcement of absence reporting procedures would be easier to provide training on and to
manage.
The Human Resources Department has prepared an annual calendar of events that has not been
kept updated. Individual positions in the department generally maintain their own calendars of
due dates and significant activities. An annual calendar of activities is a critical tool in managing
a human resources department, as this is a tool that can be used to communicate with staff in the
department on current priorities, whose involvement is required, and where backup assistance
may be needed. If the calendar is discussed on a regular basis at staff meetings, it can
18
disseminate information to everyone in the department on the critical functions of each job and
provide opportunities for learning and providing back-up functions.
There is no standard forum for the Human Resources Department to provide initial or ongoing
training to managers on personnel policies and provisions of the collective bargaining contracts.
The annual retreat of administrators and regular meetings of principals do not include a standing
agenda item for Human Resources to provide updates and training. Some of the cross-cutting
issues that we are seeing in the District as a result of the review—chronic absenteeism, the lack
of evaluations, reduced service levels and productivity, workload inequities, the lack of
accountability, etc.—could be resolved in large part by providing training and resources to
managers and supervisors to appropriately manage these areas. The Human Resources
Department needs to be provided with the authority and opportunities to take the lead in
implementing the necessary reforms in these areas, and as we understand it a number of training
sessions have been provided by Human Resources since the time of our fieldwork.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Reorganize the Department. We recommend that the Human Resources Department be
restructured. The proposed organizational chart is included in Appendix B, and can be
described as follows:
a. Consider elevating the Director position back to an Assistant Superintendent position.
This would help the District to retain its current leader in this position, as leadership
continuity and credibility in Human Resources is very critical as the District moves
forward.
b. Establish two Human Resources Coordinator positions in the Department: one to
specialize in certificated staff and the other to specialize in classified staff. Both positions
should be designated as supervisory positions. They both should be relied upon to prepare
information and recommendations for the collective bargaining process based upon their
respective areas of expertise and to evaluate staff reporting to them (see following
recommendations).
c. Maintain two Human Resources Technician II positions—one that specializes in
classified staff and the other for certificated staff—that would work under the direction of
the appropriate Human Resources Coordinator position.
d. Shift the responsibility for managing Workers’ Compensation from the Administrative
Assistant to the Human Resources Coordinator—Classified. This responsibility requires
significant knowledge of Workers’ Compensation laws and procedures, the District’s job
descriptions, and strategies for assisting employees with returning to work.
19
e. Assign the responsibility for tracking and managing employee leaves to the two Human
Resources Technician II positions. These two positions should be responsible for
proactively addressing employee leaves and for providing training and assistance to
supervisors across the District in following and enforcing leave provisions.
f. Eliminate the District Receptionist position and one of the three Human Resources
Technician II positions and replace these with two Human Resources Technician I
positions, each of which would receive direction from a Coordinator. Both can function
as part-time District receptionist and can be responsible for the automated substitute
calling system, but can also fulfill duties as needed in Human Resources. For example,
the notification to supervisors across the District on evaluations that are due, and the
follow-up work to ensure that they are completed, is already included in the Technician I
job description. It is critical, given the lack of evaluations and accountability for many
staff members across the District that this responsibility is carried out effectively. The
hours for these two positions should be staggered, so that one of the positions can begin
work early enough in the morning to ensure that the substitute calling system is working
as needed and substitute assignments are filled. The District should determine the start
time for this, but it may be as early as 6:00 a.m. Then the other Technician I can work the
later shift to cover the hours needed at the front desk. During most of the day, both
positions would be available to cover the front desk as needed, with minimal impact on
the two Technician II positions.
2. Establish an annual calendar of Human Resources Department activities. An annual
calendar of activities in the Human Resources Department should reflect, for each month, the
significant activities that need to take place and the statutory or contractual deadlines that
may apply. There will be strands that are consistent across the months—for example, the
collective bargaining strand would include any regularly scheduled meetings with union
leadership, deadlines for sunshining proposals for reopeners or successor agreements, and
information or reports that need to be provided to union leadership. The staffing strand would
consist of developing classroom staffing needs based on enrollment and changes in the
instructional program, determining whether layoffs are needed and then implementing the
layoff process, updating staffing needs as retirements and resignations are known, and then
recruiting and hiring the right number and appropriately credentialed staff members so that
they are in place for the start of school. The annual calendar should be a standing agenda
item for department staff meetings and should be used as a tool for communications and
developing teamwork and cross-training for staff in the department.
3. Develop desk procedures for each position in the Department. Given how critical Human
Resources Department functions are to the effective operation of the entire District, each
person in the Department should have written step-by-step procedures for accomplishing the
20
responsibilities of his/her position. It is difficult to dedicate the time to this effort, but one
way to tackle it is to determine which functions are most critical to be done correctly—
credential and assignment monitoring and the layoff process, for example—and making those
functions a priority for getting documented. Each staff member could be assigned the
responsibility for documenting one process each month—or at time intervals that work for
the Department—and over time the procedures will be completed. Whenever a staff member
is being trained on a process, it is a good time to either document the procedure if it is not
already done or to review the procedure and update it if necessary. Then the procedures need
to be stored in a location that is accessible by anyone else in the Department that may need to
back up that process.
4. Take steps to ensure that classroom teaching substitutes are assigned to each opening
and ready for duty at the beginning of the school day. In addition to having the Human
Resources Technician I arriving earlier in the morning, the District should check with its
legal counsel to determine whether procedures can be set up to bypass staff on the 39-month
reemployment list if they continue to refuse substitute work, or if they do not possess the
appropriate credentials. The District should also put in place procedures to ensure that
excused absences are reported to the substitute calling system as soon as possible—for
example, when authorization is provided for release time, the staff member requesting leave
should be required to call their absence into the system within 24 hours or some other
specified time frame. Then the supervisor or authorizer of the leave should follow up to
ensure that this is done. The system should start calling substitutes at least the day before—
not the morning of—for absences that are known.
5. Require that all staff members report their absences to the substitute calling system.
This would allow the Human Resources Department to maintain substitute lists for those
positions for which substitutes are required and the system can automatically contact and
secure substitutes before the start of the work day. This would also allow for automated leave
tracking and management using one database for all employees, which could be used to assist
supervisors in managing leave and could also feed the payroll system.
6. Prepare handbooks for supervisors and employees. The Human Resources Department
should prepare and update on a regular basis handbooks for supervisors and employees that
outline the policies, procedures, and forms that govern District personnel operations. Each
supervisor should have a handbook that contains policies and procedures that they are
expected to follow and to ensure that their employees are following as well. They will also
need copies of each collective bargaining contract that applies to the employees that they are
supervising. These resources can provide a tool for the ongoing training that is discussed
below. Employees should each receive a handbook of policies, procedures, and forms and the
collective bargaining agreement that apply to their position—typically, there is a separate
21
handbook for certificated bargaining unit members, classified bargaining unit members,
confidential employees, substitutes, and temporary employees. These handbooks could be
made available on the District’s website for direct access by employees as needed, which
would also make them easy for the Human Resources Department to keep updated.
7. Provide ongoing training opportunities for supervisors on Human Resources
procedures and bargaining unit contract management. Given the critical needs across the
District for assistance with personnel policies and procedures, the District should provide
regularly scheduled opportunities for the Human Resources Department to reinforce
personnel procedures and to provide specific focus on any cross-cutting issues that are
occurring. Critical needs right now would be in the area of employee evaluations, managing
employee leaves, ensuring that employees are held accountable for performing the work in
their job descriptions, addressing issues at the lowest possible level, and the grievance
process and forms when issues get to that point in the process.
The Educational Services Department has an Assistant Superintendent position, and the
incumbent has been in that position for just over a year. The Educational Services Division
contains four management-level positions and reporting lines of authority:
Director of Student Services (1.00 FTE)
Administrative Secretary (1.00 FTE)
Homeless Liaison/Foster Youth (1.00 FTE)
Safe Routes to School (contracted, grant-funded position currently vacant)
District Nurses (2.00 FTEs registered nurse and 2.00 FTEs licensed vocational nurse)
Director of Educational Programs (1.00 FTE)
School Readiness Coordinator (1.00 FTE)
Visual Arts/Performing Arts Teachers (Elementary)
Physical Education Teachers (Elementary)
22
Director of Special Education (1.00 FTE)
Coordinator (1.00 FTE)
Office Specialist III (1.00 FTE)
Program Specialist (2.00 FTEs)
Psychologist (9.25 FTEs)
Director of State & Federal Categorical Programs (1.00 FTE)
Spanish Translator (1.00 FTE)
EL Program Technician (1.00 FTE)
The current organizational chart for Educational Services can be found in Appendix A.
The District is increasing the use of student achievement data to drive decisions and inform
instruction, and this need is expected to expand in the future. There is currently a significant
effort underway being overseen by the Educational Services Department to implement a new
data management system. The District has purchased the new system and the Educational
Services Department is providing training sessions for staff members that will be users of the
system. The Department is also spearheading the implementation of professional learning
communities, which will feed into the response to intervention model that the District is moving
toward. These and other educational initiatives require strong leadership and strong coordination
with all of the other departments and school site staff that need to be involved to ensure
successful implementation. There were concerns expressed by interviewees about the ability of
the lean staff in Educational Services to be able to fully support the sites as they implement these
initiatives.
There is significant dependence on the Technology Department for support of these initiatives as
well as for ongoing systemic data and reporting needs. Response time is not consistent and
communication about how priorities are set is lacking. This dependence on the Technology
Department will increase as the need for data mining and reporting to support student success
becomes more of a way of life in the District. And, as the state moves into the common core, a
higher level of technology will be needed than currently exists. (See “Technology Department,”
below, for further discussion and recommendations.)
23
The Director of Educational Programs is a combination of what used to be two positions—a
Director of Elementary Education and a Director of Secondary Education. School principals
reported to the appropriate director position at the time; currently, all of the principals report to
the Superintendent.
Staff members in the Department, outside the department, and at school sites express concerns
about the one director position being able to provide adequate support for the instructional
programs at the school sites. This was a concern before the position was vacated—the incumbent
was just appointed this year. Indeed, site administrators have stated that they operate on their
own much more than they believe is best—it is not because the Educational Services Department
staff members are not willing to—it is attributed to the thin staffing in this area.
The Director of Educational Programs is responsible for intradistrict transfers of students, while
Student Services handles interdistrict transfers. We could not determine a reason why the two are
separated, when in most districts, the responsibility for both resides in one area of the District
that is knowledgeable about the statutes and Board policies that apply.
Curriculum oversight and the management of categorical programs are handled by separate areas
of the Educational Services Department, and at times, school sites receive different direction
from the two, especially when it comes to developing and updating site plans. Categorical
funding sources should be leveraged, as an appropriate use of the funds would allow, toward the
District’s goals first, before considering less restricted or unrestricted funds, especially in the
current budget crisis.
The District’s nurses report to the Director of Student Services. Most of their time is dedicated to
a combination of Individualized Education Plan meetings, screening procedures, and traveling to
their assigned school sites to provide medications to students as needed.
The nurses are loosely connected with the part-time health clerks at the school sites. The nurses
are needed to provide training and guidance to the health clerks, but the time they are able to
spend with them is minimal. The health clerks report directly to and are evaluated by a school
administrator. (See “School Site Staffing” section below for more information and
recommendations.)
There does not seem to be a centralized process to inventory, control, and issue textbooks to
sites. This year, the inventories were done by school principals and then they each physically
exchanged books as necessary. An inventory of textbooks is stored in the warehouse, and the
Educational Services Department is not involved in managing the inventory to ensure that each
site receives and is responsible for the appropriate materials. There are reports of a significant
lack of control over book inventories and book fines at school sites.
24
Interviewees had a number of recommendations to improve the enrollment, attendance, and
success of students: offer some form of the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program in
the earlier grades, improve the perception and reality of student safety, register students at the
District Office during the summer when sites are closed, provide alternatives within the District
(a community day school) for students with behavioral issues at all grade levels, provide a
program for pregnant and parenting students, and many more. One suggestion that is common
among many of the interviewees was to re-implement a formal Student Attendance Review
Board (SARB) process and a focus on removing the barriers to attending school.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Consider adding a Director position and redistributing workload among the Director
positions in Educational Services. Understanding that the District is emerging from a
serious fiscal crisis, we do not take lightly a recommendation to add staff. We believe that, if
the District is to effectively move forward with its educational goals and initiatives, strong
leadership and coordination is needed from the District Office to the school sites. This could
include more focus on educational alternatives, coordinating categorical funds with
curriculum, and assisting teachers and site administrators in the use of student data to modify
methods and improve results in meeting standards. The proposed organizational chart is
included in Appendix B, reflecting the addition of a Director position but without a detailed
title to allow the District to redistribute workload appropriately.
2. Shift intradistrict transfers to Student Services. Interdistrict transfers are already being
handled by Student Services, and combining interdistrict and intradistrict transfers here, with
the support of the Administrative Secretary, should be manageable and should streamline the
process for the parents and students involved.
3. Reorganize the Administrative support in the Department. We recommend that the
Administrative Secretary for Educational Programs be assigned the responsibility for
handling the textbook inventory. This would require working in conjunction with purchasing
and warehouse personnel to place textbook orders, manage the inventory, and issue textbooks
to school sites as necessary.
4. Reinstitute the formal SARB process. The District should reinstate a formal SARB process
to assist students with chronic tardiness and attendance problems, linking them with support
services to ensure that students stay in school.
5. Ensure that categorical program funding is used to support the District’s most critical
needs as appropriate. Collaboration is needed between curriculum and categorical program
staff to ensure that school site plans include objectives that support the overall mission and
goals of the District and that the most restricted funding sources are used first, as appropriate.
25
Information coming from the District Office to school sites needs to be clear and consistent,
which will require that Educational Services staff collaborate before meeting with site
principals and other staff with regard to site plans and the use of categorical funds.
6. Implement a process to generate ideas for improving student enrollment and
attendance. Staff members that we interviewed across the board are concerned about the
declining enrollment and the loss of students to charter schools, other districts, and other
alternatives. Many ideas were expressed during our interviews, and the District needs to
develop a forum to collect and evaluate these ideas. Then assignments should be made to a
person or a team to implement the ideas that appear to be cost effective. One possible forum
would be a standing agenda item for all meetings—Cabinet, principals, District departments,
school site staff—to brainstorm ideas for bringing students into the District and keeping them
in school.
Business Services Department
The Business Services Department is the responsibility of the District’s Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) as a direct report to the Superintendent. The CFO is responsible for the financial and
business operations of the District, with the primary responsibility of ensuring fiscal solvency
and financial compliance within all programs and funds in the District. The CFO is also
responsible for directly supervising staff members that perform the functions associated with the
budget, general accounting, payroll and employee benefits, accounts payable, attendance
accounting, warehousing, risk management, purchasing, technology, and food services.
Specifically, the primary duties of the CFO are as follows:
Provide leadership and supervision for the overall business services of the District
Provide accurate and timely budget information to the Superintendent and Board of
Education, including preparation and administration of long-term financial planning
Communicate the budget to the community in an understandable and useable format
Assure that the District’s financial records are accurate and in compliance with county, state,
and federal guidelines
Ensure that all departments under the CFO’s oversight are operating within budget
26
The current organizational structure includes a total of three directors reporting to the CFO:
The Director of Food Services, with 87 staff members
The Director of Financial Services, with 14 staff members
The Director of Technology, with seven staff members
A full-time Administrative Assistant also reports to the CFO. The current organizational chart
can be found in Appendix A.
All of the comparative districts have an Assistant or Associate Superintendent position instead of
a CFO. These other districts include the facilities, maintenance, operations, and transportation
(MOT) functions within the responsibilities of the Assistant or Associate Superintendent of
Business Services.
The CFO currently performs duties that a Financial Services Department would normally do,
such as managing the budget development process, preparing multiyear projections (MYPs), and
preparing cash flow projections. This requires a significant amount of the CFO’s time and
impacts the ability of the CFO to provide leadership in all of the functional areas that are
overseen by the position (see recommendations related to this in the “Financial Services” section
of this report).
The Food Services workers are not all based at the District Office, as they are located at the
school sites; however, they all report to the Director of Food Services. The standard in any
organizational structure is a maximum span of control or supervision over seven positions. This
may be exceeded if there are homogeneous positions or routine functions. Even with those
considerations, though, we believe that the span of control of functions in the Food Services
Department is beyond the standard range. We have provided recommendations in later sections
of this report for the District to reorganize the Food Services Department to more effectively
manage all functions.
The CFO has an Administrative Assistant position that provides administrative support to the
CFO and to the Business Services Department as a whole, including all departments under the
responsibility of the CFO. The Administrative Assistant also submits liability claims, collects
enrollment and ADA reports from sites, and prepares financial and other reports in support of
committee meetings. In addition, the Administrative Assistant manages the revolving fund
through securing and preparing the checks and reconciling the bank statement. This does not
constitute an appropriate segregation of duties as it is currently designed.
27
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Change the Title of the Chief Financial Officer. Retitle the position of Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) to “Associate Superintendent, Business Services” and add to this position the
responsibility for the Maintenance, Operations, Facilities, and Transportation Departments to
this position. The Executive Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Facilities would report
directly to the Associate Superintendent, Business Services. The Transportation Director
would also report directly to the Associate Superintendent, Business Services. Placement of
these functions under the Associate Superintendent, Business Services, at this time, should
improve collaboration among the departments that report to this position in order to enhance
quality and service levels to other departments and the school sites. There would be five
departments reporting directly to the Associate Superintendent, Business Services: Food
Services; Financial Services; Maintenance, Grounds, Operations, and Facilities;
Transportation; and Technology.
2. Separate the revolving cash fund duties. In order to maintain internal controls, it is
imperative that segregation of duties is maintained among staff. The preparation of checks
for the revolving fund should be handled by one staff member and the bank reconciliation by
a separate staff member to ensure the protection of the staff and the assets of the District.
28
FINANCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Financial Services is responsible for the budgeting, accounting, payroll, and purchasing
operations for all funds. The District operates using the Quintessential School System (QSS)
financial software suite of services for budget, accounting, payroll, purchasing, and position
control.
In the area of Financial Services, the Director of Financial Services supervises 13 employees—
12.75 FTE—for a total of 13.75 FTEs in the department as shown in the table below:
Title of Position
Director of Financial Services
Administrative Secretary
Accountant
Accounting Specialist
Accounting Tech I
Accounting Tech III
Attendance Liaison
Payroll Tech
Benefits Tech
Purchasing Coordinator
Warehouse-Distribution Specialist II
FTE
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
2.00
1.75
1.00
2.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
The Administrative Secretary supports the Director of Financial Services. The job description
does not align with the duties performed in this position. Based upon the scope of duties
presented during our data collection, it appears that the position provides the secretarial functions
as opposed to the highly specialized duties in the job description. The primary duties include
filing, making appointments, distributing mail, communicating via email, and ordering supplies
for the Financial Services Department.
The Accountant reports directly to the Director of Financial Services and performs complex
technical work involving: program budget control and analysis; position control maintenance;
calculation of salary agreements; and compilation of various reports for management related to
county, state, and federal government requirements. This position also assists with budget
development, and serves as lead for the Accounting Technicians. A majority of the Accountant’s
time is spent on position control. There are currently different versions of position control
maintained in the District between the Business Services Department and the Human Resources
Department. The QSS financial system is used by the District to record all financial transactions,
29
including: processing purchase orders, making payments through accounts payable, receiving
revenues through accounts receivable, and accounting for District authorized positions through
position control. However, the use of multiple versions of position control, utilizing different
mediums, requires additional time by staff to reconcile the databases used for this purpose by
different departments.
In addition, the Accountant is responsible for making changes to the Salary Agreements annually
for certificated and classified staff. The 2010-11 fiscal year resulted in a significant number of
manual changes or new agreements - 1,282, to be exact - among the two classes of employees.
An Accounting Specialist directly reports to the Director of Financial Services and executes a
variety of specialized record keeping duties associated with processing and analyzing accounting
transactions and budget monitoring, which could include project accounting, general ledger
maintenance, accounts receivable, compilation of fiscal data, preparation of reports for
reimbursement for services, and budget development.
The most essential duty for this position has been facility accounting in the past; however, there
is a moratorium at this time on additional building, which allows this position to
provide assistance in other areas. The District has cross-trained this position with other positions
in the Department to allow for flexibility as needed to ensure that the District’s goals are met.
Cross-training in position control, cash receipts, payroll, accounts payable, reporting to state
agencies, and food service accounting processes occur as needed.
The Accounting Technician I directly reports to the Director of Financial Services and completes
complex record keeping duties for processing and recording accounting transactions with
responsibility for accounts receivable and/or payables. In addition, the duties may include the
consolidation of multiple-school based or grant-based fund accounting transactions. There are
currently two Accounting Technician I positions in the District—accounts payable and accounts
receivable. The accounts payable position is responsible for Board reports on a monthly basis
currently utilizing a manual process. The information for the Board reports is extracted from the
QSS financial system and then a manual report is created. The District is not fully utilizing the
functionality of the “LSPOOL” function in QSS, which would allow for the extraction of
specific data in a customized report designed by the end user or for downloading data
automatically through QSS.
Recently, the function of maintaining the fixed assets inventory was transferred to the Purchasing
Coordinator. This was based on a narrowly written job description. Fixed asset inventory
maintenance is a duty that lends itself to this position, allowing for the inventory maintenance to
occur at the time the item is received.
30
There are two Accounting Technician III positions—Mandated Costs and Associated Student
Body (ASB). Both positions report directly to the Director of Financial Services.
The Accounting Technician III—Mandated Cost position is a 0.75 FTE position that performs
complex accounting and analytical work related specifically to the mandated cost program,
Medi-Cal billing, and Medi-Cal Administrative Activity claiming. In addition, compilation of
required reports for the federal, state, and county government agencies is the responsibility of
this position. The District utilizes outside vendors to file claims for mandated costs and to
prepare Medi-Cal billings.
The Accounting Technician III—ASB position is a 1.00 FTE position that performs complex
accounting and analytical work related specifically to ASB, including working directly with the
school sites to manage the ASB funds and other aspects related to ASB. Currently, this position
is responsible for one high school, two middle schools, all elementary schools, and the District
oversight responsibilities for ASB. There is a separate bookkeeper position assigned to one high
school in the District. To support this function in the District, the District currently utilizes the
“Blue Bear” software application throughout the fiscal year to record accounting transactions.
This software has the capability of generating month- and year-end reports as necessary.
The Attendance Liaison position reports directly to the Director of Financial Services and is
1.00 FTE. This position is responsible for recording and reporting of student attendance in
compliance with the California Education Code, including training and technical assistance to
school sites and others regarding District and state guidelines. The duties of this position requires
ongoing consistent communication and interaction with the Student Information/Database
Analyst (this position was previously classified as the Senior Student Information System
Specialist and was reclassified to the Analyst position to reflect additional duties) related to the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and the reports generated
from the student system, which is a third-party application that resides on the District’s server.
Therefore, the Attendance Liaison works closely with the Technology Department on a daily
basis.
There are two Payroll Technicians for a total of 2.00 FTEs reporting directly to the Director of
Financial Services. These positions are responsible for ensuring that payroll is prepared in a
timely manner and maintained for both certificated and classified staff, including maintaining
records and preparing reports by performing advanced technical and clerical accounting and
financial record keeping. In addition, the duties include the posting and balancing of the accounts
as necessary.
One of the goals of these positions is to make timely payments to employees. Currently, five
different people are required to sign the timecard of a substitute. This has had an impact on the
District’s ability to make payroll deadlines. As a result, the situation often requires that revolving
31
fund checks are written or that employees must wait until the next pay period for payment. It is
important to ensure that all the appropriate personnel are signing off that are required, but the
process should be reviewed to ensure that all five signatures are required—this is an unusually
high number of signatures.
From time to time, there may be an error in an employee’s paycheck that results in an
overpayment to the employee. This occurs most often with sick leave when the absences and the
timecards are turned in late—sometimes up to six months or more. The frequency with which
this happens and the time necessary to follow up and notify employees of the error has increased
over last year. The California School Employees’ Association collective bargaining agreement
was amended to provide the employee with more time—up to 30 days—to contact the Payroll
Department to make arrangements for payment back to the District. Also, payback arrangements
can be stretched across several years – in one particular case, 8 years. These situations impact the
accuracy of financial reporting throughout the fiscal year and particularly at the end of the
calendar year when Forms W-2 are required to be issued. The integrity of reports that contain
earnings data during the year and at the end of the year is compromised. The inaccuracy of the
reports, in addition to the time necessary to follow up, is inefficient and costly for the District.
Exacerbating the issue of absence tracking is the fact that there are two systems currently being
utilized—manual and automated—for tracking absences of certificated staff. The District
previously used a single process through the use of an automated sub-calling system. In the last
couple of years, there has been resistance by the certificated employees to use the automated
system in place. Therefore, the payroll staff receive Absence Request Forms from some and
others use the automated sub-calling system. However, there is inconsistency regarding the use
of either one, so reconciliation by payroll staff is required monthly to ensure all absences are
accounted for accurately. The result of the reconciliation includes some absences not reported in
either system—manual or automated. The reason the automated system was put in place was due
to the lack of timecards being signed and turned in to the Payroll Department. The impact of
managing two systems leads to time delays and inaccurate information (see a related
recommendation in the “Human Resources” section of this report).
It has become a common practice for some employees to turn time cards in late. In some
instances, the time cards are more than six months late and even apply to a prior fiscal year. This
has significant impacts, as there are state and federal regulations that require the District to report
earnings in a timely manner. These late time cards require additional time by District staff to
handle, and can cause additional costs for the District in penalties and interest.
In general, deadlines are not always adhered to by other departments, school sites, and especially
charter schools. This increases the burden on the Financial Services staff to ensure that
employees and vendors are paid in a timely manner, even when deadlines are not met by the
department or site. Current statutes (Education Code Sections 42800 – 42806, 42810, 42820, and
32
42821) provide the authority for a district to establish and maintain a revolving cash account.
The District currently maintains a revolving cash account in the amount of $35,000. In addition
to the statutory provision, the District's Board Policy 3314.2 establishes the purpose and use of
the funds as “payment for services or supplies for which there is an urgent deadline or to reduce
the need for issuing numerous small warrants.” An annual report to the Board is required as part
of the year-end reporting.
We found the current level of the revolving cash account to be higher than what we would
normally see in a district this size. This in part is due to the fact that there are numerous
payments from this fund for payroll activity. When timecards are not turned in on a timely basis,
the result is a reliance on the revolving cash account to pay employees as timely as possible,
compensating for the payroll deadlines being missed.
The Benefits Technician position is 1.00 FTE reporting directly to the Director of Financial
Services. This position is responsible for maintaining records and preparing reports associated
with payroll by performing advanced technical and clerical accounting and financial record
keeping related to both certificated and classified payrolls. In addition, posting to and balancing
of the benefit accounts is done as necessary. This position also mails the payroll warrants and
salary agreements and backs up payroll when necessary.
The Purchasing-Warehouse Coordinator is a 1.00 FTE position reporting to the Director of
Financial Services, and performs technical accounting work associated with purchasing,
warehousing, and other related duties. In addition, this position is responsible for collecting and
maintaining the data required to provide Forms 1099 at the end of each year. Although this
position is not a supervisory position, it does provide technical direction to the WarehouseDistribution Specialist position. There is no one else assigned to purchasing duties in the
Department. There are backups for this position if necessary, so cross-training has occurred for
this position. However, the ability of other staff to step in when necessary is limited due to the
language in the job descriptions, which can lead to significant costs to the District in the form of
out-of-class compensation. It is common for a purchasing department to have a supervisor that is
responsible for the warehouse. It is our understanding that, at one time, there was a supervisor
position over a Purchasing Technician and Warehouse-Distribution Specialist.
The District currently does not utilize the QSS system for school sites and some departments to
initiate purchase requisitions electronically. Also, we noted in our review of documentation that
it is routine for purchases to occur prior to a purchase requisition being completed or purchase
orders being processed or initiated. All purchase requisitions are currently reviewed by Business
Services for appropriate account codes and available funds.
33
The District issues blanket purchase orders for use by the school sites when placing orders for
supplies that can be delivered directly to the sites. This significantly shortens the time frame
between placement of the order and arrival of the order at the site.
The bid process for facilities projects is handled by the Facilities Planning Department, but with
the involvement of Purchasing from the bid opening through to the end of the process to ensure
compliance with laws, regulations, and District purchasing policies. All other departments rely
upon Purchasing during the entire procurement process.
Management of the District’s fixed asset inventory is handled by a software application that is
separate from QSS. QSS does include an inventory control module, but it was not deemed
acceptable by the District to use on a regular basis. The use of a separate third-party software
application requires additional time because of the additional entry of data into the application.
The warehousing operation encompasses Facilities and Food Services functions as well as the
District’s main inventory. Delivery personnel support all of these functions.
The Warehouse-Distribution Specialist II is a 1.00 FTE position reporting directly to the Director
of Financial Services. This position is responsible for performing a variety of duties related to the
operation and maintenance of the central warehouse. In addition, this position also delivers the
mail to the school sites. This warehouse position is physically located in the District’s Service
Center, which allows for the ease of loading materials into District vehicles for delivery to school
site staff.
Overall, the Financial Services Department has an unbalanced distribution of workload. The job
descriptions are written in a manner that is not conducive to accomplishing the goals established
by the Board or the Department. The job descriptions are narrowly written and are in need of an
update relative to the terminology used in order to reflect changes from the state and for
consistency purposes (see the “Organizational Culture and Structure” section above for more
discussion on this topic).
The impact of the disparate distribution of workload results in inefficiencies and additional costs
to the District. The District is forced to pay more in out-of-class pay to staff members than would
otherwise be necessary, and managers are required to take on support staff responsibilities in
order to meet state, federal, and county compliance guidelines. The methodology used for the
distribution of workload also leads to the inability of managers to lead a department or plan for
the future in an effective and efficient manner.
Based upon the size of the District, the number of positions, and comparable data from other
similarly sized districts, the District has more staff than other comparable Fiscal Services
departments. The number of direct reports to the Director of Financial Services—in addition to
34
the number of departments the position oversees—does not exceed the accepted standard of
seven direct reports.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Eliminate the Director of Financial Services position and create an Executive Director
of Financial Services position as the lead position in the Financial Services Department.
We recommend creating a higher level management position in order to effectively manage
all areas within the Department and to take on the financial-related duties that are currently
being performed by the CFO. This position would report directly to the Assistant
Superintendent, Business Services, and would mainly be responsible to:
Manage budget development, including MYPs
Handle routine budget transfers
Generate budget reports as needed for school site, department, and program budget
managers throughout the District
Provide budget-related assistance to school site, department, and program budget
managers
Manage and coordinate the financial function of position control
Governmental Accounting Standards Board 34 reporting
Cash flow projections
Evaluate employees
The Budget Analyst position (see below) and the purchasing functions would report directly
to the Executive Director of Financial Services position.
2. Eliminate the Accounting Specialist position and create an Accounting Supervisor
position to oversee the day-to-day accounting functions of the Department. This position
would provide a high level of accounting responsibilities with support from accounts
payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and benefits. This position would report to the
Executive Director of Financial Services and would be a management position.
We believe capacity needs to be built within the Financial Services Department for each
position to handle the volume of work that is required and appropriate within each job
description. This will require a number of actions to be taken, including shifting some of the
35
operational workload from the current Director of Financial Services position to a newly
created Accounting Supervisor position, along with the creation of a job description to
perform these responsibilities:
Perform more complex accounting duties
Supervise and direct the work of the Accounting Technicians
Evaluate employees
Manage the Financial Services Department in the absence of the Executive Director
Implementing this recommendation should provide an adequate number and level of
positions in the Financial Services Department to be able to segregate duties
appropriately and handle the workload demands. The need for overtime, compensatory
time off, or out-of-class pay should be for exceptional cases only, and would never apply
to management positions. The proposed organizational structure for the Financial
Services Department is shown in Appendix B.
3. Restructure the Accountant position to be a Budget Analyst position. The primary focus
of the Accountant position is position control, which is a significant part of the District’s
budget management. Also, if position control is implemented as recommended below, staff
time necessary to support it can be reduced and a Budget Analyst can take on the
budget-related duties of the Accounting Specialist position.
4. Move the Attendance Liaison position under the Technology Department. Because of
the nature of the information used and the duties performed by the position, we recommend
that this position be moved under the supervision of the Chief Technology Officer. This
position works closely with technology systems and staff in order to manage attendance and
enrollment for the District to ensure compliance guidelines are met in an efficient manner. As
part of the change in supervision, the District should analyze whether the needed functions
can be provided under the current job description, and if not, this position may need to be
reclassified to appropriately reflect the needed functions and duties. The Financial Services
Department would perform regular audits of the function and prepare the periodic required
reports to the county and state agencies. The duties between the Technology Department and
Financial Services Department would be appropriately segregated.
5. Eliminate the Administrative Secretary position. The Administrative Assistant to the CFO
should provide the higher level support duties that are required for the Division as a whole.
36
6. Increase hours for the Accounting Technician III—Mandated Cost position. We
recommend that 0.25 FTE (two hours per day) be shifted from the Accounting
Technician III—ASB position to this position. This shift would allow for continued ASB
oversight at the District Office level, in light of the recommendation below. The ASB portion
of the position would address the District’s oversight responsibility for receiving reports from
the school sites on a monthly basis, compiling the financial reports for the year, and
providing support as needed to the site level bookkeepers for training and compliance. In
addition, the “Mandated Cost” portion of the title should be removed.
7. Eliminate the Accounting Technician III—ASB position and replace it with a
Bookkeeper at the school site level. The District would be best served by eliminating
the remaining 0.50 FTE Accounting Technician III—ASB position and creating an
ASB Bookkeeper position at the school site level that would serve multiple school sites. This
would make a total of 1.50 FTEs Bookkeepers to serve the school sites and focus on training
and compliance.
8. Investigate the possibility of using QSS for ASB accounting. The QSS system provides
the opportunity for ASB accounting to be included in the financial system. If it were, the
QSS purchase order system could be used for ASB funds as well as for other functions
provided by the software, such as the generation of Form 1099s.
9. Provide ongoing consistent communication within the department and between the
department, other departments, and school sites. Business Services needs to be more
proactive in communicating internally and externally about new initiatives, recurring issues,
ways to streamline procedures, ideas for improving services, etc.—input can be actively
solicited from other departments and school sites, which the department can consider in
adjusting its operations to provide better service and more efficiency. Key to this will be to
maintain strong communications within the department through regular staff meetings that
foster discussions about what the department can to do help move the District forward, and
then providing regular training to other departments and school site staff as necessary.
10. Continue to pursue and implement one database to integrate all financial functions. The
District should continue to pursue the implementation of a solution that integrates position
control, human resources, and payroll data into one database, along with the other financial
functions of the District. This should be given top priority, as there is a lack of internal
controls and an inordinate amount of staff time required to maintain the current databases and
spreadsheets and the manual processes that go with them. The Financial Services Department
should maintain the position control records; the Human Resources Department should hire
all employees into authorized positions only; the Payroll Department should only pay those
37
employees hired into authorized positions by Human Resources; and none of the departments
should be able to update or change the records of the other.
An effective position control system establishes checks and balances between personnel
decisions, budgeted appropriations, and employee paychecks. All personnel transactions
related to a position should be processed first through the Financial Services Department in
order to ensure both the availability of a position and the adequacy of funding. The position
control system should:
Have unique position control numbers for each position
Contain only Board of Education-authorized positions
Contain only valid, funded positions
Provide timely and accurate information
Be used as a forecasting tool
Be fully integrated with the payroll, accounting, budget, and Human Resources modules
Allow salary payments only to authorized positions
The District’s financial system has the capability to integrate all of the functions and provide
all of the controls listed above.
11. Continue to require that all personnel requisitions be reviewed and authorized by the
Cabinet before going to Human Resources for action. Cabinet includes the CFO, the
Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, and the Director of Human Resources, as
well as the Superintendent. This will ensure that there is a meeting of the minds from all
concerned before a personnel requisition is processed by Human Resources, and it should
improve internal controls over the most significant portion of the District’s budget: employee
salaries and benefits.
12. Develop a streamlined method for substitute timecards. In order for payroll to meet the
deadline for employee paychecks, the timecards must be received on time. A reduction in the
number of signatures could reduce the necessity to prepare revolving fund checks and still
result in timely payments to employees. We recommend that, at a minimum, the immediate
supervisor and the state and federal categorical programs department, if applicable, sign off
on timecards for payment to be executed. It is important that internal controls are maintained
while streamlining this process.
38
13. Develop a systemic process for recapturing overpayments on payroll checks. As soon as
an overpayment has been discovered, either by the District or the employee, an arrangement
for repayment to the District should be made. The District should shorten the 30-day notice
requirement on the part of the employee to something much less—five or ten days—that
would allow the District to ensure that financial reports, wage reports, and especially Form
W-2 are correct. The District should also work to shorten the time frame during which
overpayments can be paid back to the District to something more appropriate.
14. Review transactions in the revolving cash fund to minimize the amount set aside for it.
The District should review, on a quarterly basis, the types of transactions occurring in the
revolving cash fund in order to address errors or late timecards with the parties responsible
and to determine whether the amount set aside for this fund can be reduced. It may be best to
phase in the reduction over time as the above issues are addressed.
15. Enforce timelines and deadlines with all departments, school sites, and charter schools.
This should start with training provided to all responsible parties on the deadlines that should
be met, the paperwork that is needed, and the process to be followed, to ensure that payments
are made in a timely manner and financial records are kept up-to-date. Follow up with any
department or site that is not meeting the deadlines should be done by Financial Services
management in order to ensure accountability.
16. Convert the Purchasing-Warehouse Coordinator position to a supervisory position.
This position already exercises functional oversight of the Warehouse Specialist position—
accountability and efficiency can be improved if the Purchasing-Warehouse Coordinator
position has full supervisory responsibilities. The current office space available in the
warehouse is large enough to house two people, so we also recommend that the PurchasingWarehouse Coordinator be moved to that location. This would help to ensure, since these are
two singleton positions, that cross-training is done so these positions can back each other up
as necessary.
17. Provide access to the online purchase requisition system for departments and school
sites. Information is best when captured by the system at the point of origin. Early input of
data helps to ensure not only timeliness, but also accuracy. School site data input of routine
transactions will streamline data entry and can eliminate paperwork. For example, if data can
be entered directly into the system from a source document for a purchase requisition, there
is no need to prepare a separate paper purchase requisition that needs to be mailed to the
District Office for data entry.
Properly implemented, online transaction processing using an integrated system like QSS
will automatically verify the availability of funds and the account coding when the site or
39
department prepares the requisition. If funds are not available, the system would require a
budget transfer before processing. This transaction will also pre-encumber the funds
immediately to avoid timing difference problems. In addition, the approval process would be
online, thus avoiding the time delays in mailing paper back and forth between offices for
approval.
When Purchasing prepares the purchase order, it would reference the online requisition and
bring forward the needed information, which would eliminate the need to enter the data
again. When completed, the purchase order would liquidate the pre-encumbrance and fully
encumber the funds. Budget and account code verification would not need to be manually
verified by District office personnel as funds availability and account code verification would
all be automated through online access.
We encourage the District to implement this functionality as a way to build capacity and
accountability throughout the District, to improve efficiencies in the purchasing of goods and
services, to allow enforcement of purchasing policies by streamlining the process, and to
maintain more up-to-date financial information in the system for management decision
making.
18. Implement electronic signatures on purchase orders. To further streamline the purchasing
process, we recommend that the District implement electronic signatures on purchase orders,
so that a manual authorization is no longer required. If purchase requisitions are required to
be authorized by a higher authority for certain exceptions (such as textbook orders and
consulting contracts), there should be no need for these same authorizations on the purchase
order.
19. Streamline inventory control by using QSS. Implementing an inventory control process
that automatically interfaces the inventory functions with the accounting functions would
save significant staff time and effort currently required to maintain the two separate systems.
FOOD SERVICES DEPARTMENT
The Food Services Department is under the responsibility of the CFO. The centralized Food
Services Office staff consists of a Director of Food Services, a Supervisor of Food Services
(currently vacant), and two Office Specialists. The organizational structure for the Food Services
Department is shown in Appendix A.
The District’s Food Services Department operates using a Central Kitchen concept to serve
school sites that have small preparatory (heat and serve) kitchens. The high schools have
full-service kitchens. All serving locations use an automated point-of-sale system to handle their
student accounts and related accounting functions. Students who are not paying cash can use
40
their unique personal identification number or identification card to access their meal account
and purchase food. The Food Services Department handles its own purchasing and warehousing
functions.
The Food Services Director oversees all areas of the Food Services Department, including the
supervision of site food services workers, ordering of commodities, and preparation of state and
federal reimbursements.
The District operates a fairly extensive Food Services operation, serving breakfast and lunch
throughout the school year. The central kitchen was built at the District Office site with the goal
of allowing the District to take full advantage of the United States Department of Agriculture
commodities, to streamline and standardize the Food Services menu, and to create revenue
opportunities through catering. The team of staff members in the central kitchen—including a
team leader—operates the Central Kitchen, cooking and packaging approximately 5,500 meals
per day for the District’s 12,000 students.
The current organizational chart includes a vacant Supervisor position, which has been vacant for
some time. The District was contracting out for two years with an outside vendor that provided
management services to the District. That contract has expired and was not renewed. A new
Director of Food Services has been in place for a short time—since July 1, 2011. Therefore,
there are assessments taking place prior to any positions being filled. Some of the job
descriptions have not been updated since the addition of the Supervisor position to reflect that
they may report to the Supervisor rather than the Director.
The Director of Food Services currently supervises ten employees at the District Office level, for
a total of 8.875 FTEs (the Supervisor position is currently vacant), as shown in the table below:
Title of Position
FTE
Director of Food Services
1.00
Office Specialist III
2.00
Food Services Driver
1.75
Food Services Supervisor
1.00 (Vacant)
Team Lead
1.00
Food Services Assistant II
2.50
Custodian
0.625
The standard practice in an organizational structure is a maximum span of control or supervision
over seven positions. This number can be increased and the organization can still be effective if
41
the positions being supervised are rather homogeneous in nature, as is typically the case in a
Food Services Department.
The Director of Food Services is responsible for the Department budget, oversight of the Central
Kitchen and school sites, and supervision, training, and evaluation of personnel. The Director is
experienced in the field and has actively participated in professional associations and has kept
current in the food services field.
The position description for the Supervisor of Food Services lists the responsibilities of: assisting
the Director of Food Services in managing and overseeing the activities and operations related to
the Food Services system; being responsible for cost controls, revenue, and bottom line profits;
and assisting in the supervision, selection, and evaluation of Food Services personnel.
The Office Specialists work with the Director and Supervisor of Food Services performing
clerical work related to the office, processing work orders, and collecting and recording data
related to Food Services, such as free and reduced-price meal student information.
According to the job descriptions, Food Services Team Leaders are responsible for providing and
coordinating training of Food Services staff, but because no training plan exists, no standard
process is currently followed.
The formal management structure for the Food Services Department addresses all required
functions to operate the Department. However, the actual current distribution of responsibilities
between members of the management team is unsustainable in the long run without the
Supervisor position being filled. The Department requires active management that is focused on
the core operating needs of the Department, as well as proactive management to lead the
Department into the future. Under the current staffing arrangement, the Director of Food
Services provides the majority of day-to-day management support required for the Department to
function, which leaves little time for long-term planning and implementing new initiatives.
According to the organizational chart for the Department, the Site Leads in the Central Kitchen
and at the elementary schools all report to the Director of Food Services. Since the Food Services
Supervisor position is not filled as this time, the Director of Food Services directly oversees all
aspects of the Food Service Department. Over time, without the Supervisor position filled, this
structure could adversely impact the capacity of the department to meet student needs and
continue to be sustainable. All of the Food Services departments in the comparative districts
include either a Supervisor or Manager position under the Director of Food Services.
The Food Services Department has a Team Leader position at the central kitchen with duties that
include overseeing and participating in food preparation and service activities in the Central
Kitchen and at the school sites, as necessary. In addition, the position plans menus and recipes,
oversees food preparation at various school sites, maintains inventory of food, and places orders
42
for food and supplies. Currently, the position spends a significant amount of time on warehouse
duties, as the Food Services Department does not have a warehouse person formally assigned as
part of the organizational structure. Given the size of this operation, dedicated warehouse staff is
needed.
Currently, the daily cash receipts are provided to the Food Services Department at the District
Office every afternoon. The District then ensures that the cash is deposited into the commercial
bank account. This method, however, is inefficient and involves an element of risk to District
staff and District assets.
As is noted in other areas of this report, between employee absenteeism and furlough days,
ensuring coverage of the critical functions every day is challenging, especially with the number
of positions that can be vacant in Food Services at any given time. On any given day, the number
of substitutes available may not be enough.
FREE AND REDUCED-PRICE MEALS
Currently, the Office Specialists in the Central Food Services Office collect and maintain the
data for students eligible for free and reduced-price meals. The District sends home information
on eligibility for free and reduced-price meals with students at the beginning of the school year.
The District is currently looking at ways to increase participation, which would mean increasing
the number of free and reduced-price meal applications filed with the District to more closely
reflect the needs of the District’s population.
The District has a free and reduced-price meal population of 50.1%, which District staff feels
falls short of the actual number of students who qualify. Based on the comparative district data,
the District ranks fourth in the comparison.
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
District
Ceres Unified
Azusa Unified
El Rancho Unified
Natomas Unified
Lucia Mar Unified
Rocklin Unified
% Free and
Reduced-Price Meals
77.8%
73.0%
67.0%
50.1%
49.4%
17.4%
Source: California Department of Education 2009-10
43
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Modify the management structure. We recommend that the Food Services Team Leader
position in the Central Kitchen be eliminated, and that the Supervisor position in the Food
Services Department be filled. Given the impact of the Central Kitchen operation on the
student population and the overall performance of the Food Services Department, as well as
the long-term goal of adding catering and other services, we believe that the Supervisor
position needs to assume the authority and responsibility for management of the Central
Kitchen. This should include management of the budget and personnel.
2. Reconfigure warehouse staff. We recommend that 0.50 FTE of the Warehouse-Distribution
Specialist II position under Financial Services be dedicated to supporting the Food Services
Department, leaving 0.50 FTE to support the central warehouse. In addition, the District
should create a 0.50 FTE Warehouse Specialist I position so that the mail and school site
delivery functions of the Warehouse-Distribution Specialist II could be shifted to this new
position, which can also provide support to the central warehouse as needed. Both positions
should report to the Purchasing-Warehouse Coordinator (see related recommendations in the
“Financial Services” section of the report). This would result in an increase of 0.50 FTE for
Warehouse staff.
3. Update existing policies and procedures and create a Procedures Manual for each desk.
While the existing workload makes it difficult for staff members to dedicate time to working
on policies and procedures, the investment of time in this effort helps to ensure efficiencies
and appropriate controls. We recommend that the District start with the most critical areas
first and ensure that updated procedures are available to all staff members.
4. Develop a training program. Currently, training for Food Services workers is mainly
limited to new employee orientation and to that which is legally required, along with some
occasional training at staff meetings. Training to ensure that standardized practices are
followed, particularly in the areas of ordering, food preparation, inventory management,
record keeping, cash management, and safety, is critical. Furthermore, relying on individual
Food Services Team Leaders to provide on-the-job training to staff has led to inconsistent
staff training. The District should develop an ongoing training program that includes modules
that the Supervisor, Site Leads, and staff from the District Office can use to ensure consistent
and appropriate training that permits procedures to be followed and provides for career
progression for Food Services workers. The Director and Supervisor of Food Services should
work together to develop this training and oversee the implementation.
5. Provide greater coverage for absences and vacancies. The District should continue its
efforts to increase its pool of substitutes, but should also consider adding one or two more
44
permanent floating positions. The goal is to have enough staff to appropriately cover all
absences and vacancies without having to use permanent staff (other than floaters) from other
locations, the Central Kitchen, or the District Office.
6. Invest in an armored car contract for service. We recommend that the District invest in a
contract for armored car services that will pick up the daily cash receipts directly from each
of the appropriate school sites throughout the District. This will ensure that the deposits are
delivered to the bank and deposited into the commercial account, and will maintain
protection for the assets of the District and its employees.
7. Continue efforts to identify students eligible for free and reduced-price meals. The
District is working on establishing a plan to increase the number of applications for students
who qualify for free and reduced-price meals, but has just begun working on the plan. The
Food Services Department should expand its efforts to communicate with parents in various
ways—such as sending notices home, placing notices in local publications, and presenting
information at Parent Teacher Association meetings and back-to-school nights—about the
free and reduced-price meal program. Increasing awareness of the qualifications and the
importance of the program can help to get more applications returned for qualifying students.
The proposed organizational structure for the Food Services Department is shown in
Appendix B.
45
TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
The Technology Department is charged with implementing new educational and administrative
technology, maintaining the existing technology infrastructure, implementing modernization of
technology, and providing technical support to users. There is a 1.00 FTE Chief Technology
Officer position that reports to the CFO, which is incorrectly depicted on the organizational chart
as a Supervisor position. This position has been vacant for approximately two years, which has
ultimately impacted service levels to the rest of the District.
In the area of Technology, beyond the Chief Technology Officer position, there are eight
employees, with a total of 9.00 FTEs in the Department, as shown in the table below:
Title of Position
Chief Technology Officer
FTE
1.00 (vacant)
Database Specialist
1.00
Student Information/Database Analyst
(previously Senior SIS Specialist)
1.00
SIS Specialist (Vacant)
1.00
Senior Engineer
1.00
Engineer
1.00
PC Tech III
3.00
The Department maintains primarily third-party software applications (Nutri-Kids, California
Basic Educational Data System [CBEDS], CALPADS, Power School, etc.) on the District’s
servers. The Sacramento County Office of Education maintains the QSS financial software
application.
The Senior Engineer plans, manages, and maintains all local area and wide area networks
(LAN/WAN) governing the data communications for personal computers, which includes the
computer network, the email system, and telecommunications for microcomputers and servers.
This position is also responsible for planning and designing the implementation of the
LAN/WAN infrastructure, including hardware/software recommendations.
We could not locate a job description for either the Senior Engineer position or the Engineer
position, which are the titles depicted on the organization chart and in position control. For the
purposes of this study, we are assuming that the job descriptions that we did find for a Senior
Systems Engineer and a Systems Engineer apply to the Senior Engineer and Engineer positions,
respectively.
46
The job description for the Senior Systems Engineer identifies that the primary responsibility is
to apply advanced skill and knowledge of complex network protocols and other technology and
apply to existing systems, as well as evaluate and implement new systems as appropriate.
The job description for the Systems Engineer identifies that the primary responsibility is to plan,
manage, and maintain all components of the local area and wide area networks governing data
communications among personal computers and oversees technical support and help functions.
The job description for the Student Information/Database Analyst identifies that the primary
responsibility is maintenance and support of the District’s SIS, Power School. In addition, the
position is responsible for all of the state reporting requirements, such as CALPADS, including
exports of data to outside agencies. The training and assistance duties of this position, however,
are mostly performed by the Attendance Liaison in Financial Services. As noted earlier in the
report, these two positions work closely with each other to accomplish their respective duties.
The Database Specialist plans, develops, analyzes, implements, and maintains the database
systems. The job description identifies that this position is primarily responsible for maintaining
Power School along with other database applications in the District. In reality, the Senior SIS
Specialist is maintaining Power School, while the Database Specialist is maintaining the library,
learning, assessment, Food Services, and other systems used by the District.
The Information Technology Specialist III is currently identified as “PC Tech III” in the
organizational chart. This position provides support to the school sites for desktop computers and
applications through an automated system that allows the departments and school sites to submit
a work order when there is a technology need. Each of the three Information Technology
Specialist IIIs is assigned to specific school sites.
The District maintains several third-party vendor software applications through support and
trouble shooting. The Department’s service levels have deteriorated to the current state over the
past two years. There are concerns regarding morale among the staff and there have been no
formal lines of communication to bring the Department together. In addition, technology is being
implemented and equipment purchased throughout the District without any input from the
Department in many instances. It appears that there has been no voice from the Department with
the absence of a manager. There have been attempts by the staff to standardize equipment or
communicate to other departments, but this has been largely unsuccessful. Purchase orders do
come through the Department for some technology items, but often it is after the purchase has
already occurred. Currently, there is no standardization of equipment or equipment replacement.
A plan was brought forward by some members of the Department, but there has been no action
or recognition of the plan.
47
School sites and district office staff expressed great frustration with the present student
information system (SIS). The system appears to be difficult for staff to utilize and takes an
extraordinary amount of staff time to utilize at their sites. The master scheduling functionality of
the system for the secondary schools is limited and staff expressed great frustration with using
the system in the development of the master schedules for each school. The District has a staff
member whose main responsibility is the implementation of the present SIS system. In
comparable districts, the web-based software for student information systems is normally
supported by the developers of the system and, as such, districts do not normally dedicate the
main role of a staff member to implement and maintain a SIS computer system.
At the time of our fieldwork, the District was advertising the Chief Technology Officer position
to be filled. Based upon the comparable district staffing levels, and including the Chief
Technology Officer position, the District’s staffing is the second lowest level in the group. This
Department appears to be spread thin in terms of workload, especially without a Chief
Technology Officer. The time and energy spent on managing the workload with the vacant Chief
position has been taking a toll on the Department as a whole and will require some relationship
building once the position is filled.
The Educational Services Department is currently working on an implementation of a software
application, Illuminate, which will benefit the District with student data that is necessary to
inform instruction. Initiatives such as these require that the Technology Department staff be
available and fully engaged to provide the necessary support.
The following table provides some measurements of the workload of the Technology
Department. The Technology Department supports all sites in the District, including traditional
schools (12), charters schools (5), District Office, and the Service Center.
Description
Workstations
Sites Supported
Student Population
Number of Network Accounts
Number of Network Servers
Number of Service Request Tickets
Total
3,775
19
12,341
3,825
 Staff/Temp 1,387
 Student Accounts 2,438
58
39,507
 2011-12—2,667
 2010-11—6,256
 30,584 (since the District
began using Trackit)
48
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Continue the process to fill the Chief Technology Officer position. This will better
position the Department to leverage its staffing and resources to maintain and implement
technology across the District.
2. Develop a master plan for technology. Once the Chief Technology Officer position is
filled, the Department can begin to work on the master plan for technology for the District,
which would include developing standards for equipment purchases and replacements. End
users should be provided with the necessary information to make purchases that are
consistent with the standards. The master planning process should include an assessment of
the Department’s staffing levels and assignment of functions in order to meet the technology
needs of the District going forward.
3. Develop a replacement plan. The ideal replacement cycle for technology equipment is
every three to five years. As the District develops its technology standards, it should also
identify an ongoing funding source, if possible, for an equipment replacement plan.
4. Move the Attendance Liaison position under the Technology Department. We
recommend that this position be moved from Financial Services to be under the supervision
of the Chief Technology Officer in order to manage attendance and enrollment for the
District and to ensure that compliance guidelines are met in an efficient manner. This
position works closely with the Student Information/Database Analyst; the duties of these
two positions are closely aligned and could be managed more efficiently and effectively
under one manager.
5. Create a process for communicating within the Department and with its customers on a
regular basis. The Department could benefit from holding regular staff meetings to discuss
current priorities and staff assignments in order to enhance teamwork and leverage staff to
meet the needs of their customers. The Department should also develop a transparent process
for determining priorities so that its customers—other departments and the school sites—
understand how priorities are set and so that expectations for service levels can be set.
6. Ensure that educational and administrative priorities are appropriately balanced. The
Technology Department reports to an operational department—that of Business Services.
However, it should be remembered that the Department serves the entire District, and its
primary focus should be on the needs of the instructional side in order to foster student
success. While administrative and operational support systems are critical, the educational
side of the District has its own goals that need the support of the Technology Department,
and that need is expected to grow in the future as the academic world evolves. We
recommend that any significant technological initiatives—those that would require
49
significant resources and staff time—be brought to the Cabinet for consideration and
prioritization to ensure that the District’s highest priorities are met.
FACILITIES AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT
The Facilities and Planning Department has a full-time Executive Director, which currently
reports to the Superintendent and oversees the maintenance, operations, custodial, safety, and
transportation needs of the District. There are two administrative support positions in the
Department—a 0.75 FTE Administrative Secretary position and a 1.00 FTE Administrative
Assistant position. For a district of this size, it is unusual to see more than one administrative
support position.
There is no supervisor to oversee maintenance or grounds. The lead maintenance and grounds
staff report to the Executive Director. The District utilizes a technology based work order system
for maintenance requests; sites and departments use the work order process for necessary repairs.
This has worked well for a District of this size.
In the area of maintenance, operations, and facilities, there are 72 staff members, with a total of
70.75 FTEs. The FTE count does not include the Energy Manager position because this position
is not a full-time District position, rather it is a stipend position, and an FTE was not available.
The positions in the maintenance, operations, and facilities departments are shown in the
following table:
Title of Position
Executive Director of Facilities and
Planning (not included in position control)
Administrative Assistant
Administrative Secretary (shows as 1.00 FTE
in Transportation—split not in Position
Control)
Project Manager
Energy Manager (not included in Position
Control)
Custodial Supervisor
FTE
1.00
1.00
0.75
1.00
Stipend Position, FTE not available
1.00
1.00
Grounds Team Leader
1.00
Custodian—Lead I
2.00
Custodian—Lead II
12.00
Custodian
34.00
Title of Position
50
FTE
Maintenance Specialist I
2.00
Maintenance Specialist II
2.00
Maintenance Specialist III
5.00
Grounds Specialist I
1.00
Grounds Specialist II
3.00
Grounds Specialist III
3.00
Staffing school sites for custodial services can be a complicated task. There are many factors that
go into determining the number of custodians each site should have. Examples of some of the
major variables include:
Age of facility
Number of restrooms
Square footage
Cleaning time standards
Number of classrooms
Noncleaning duties
Number of teachers
Type of flooring
Past surveys have shown that the methods used by school districts to determine custodial staffing
levels can vary significantly. Some districts have very complex formulas that take into
consideration everything all the way down to the time it takes to clean a pencil sharpener. Most
districts, however, have more simplistic formulas that allocate custodians to school sites.
We found that the District is utilizing the California Association of School Business Officials
(CASBO) staffing formula for its school sites; the methodology behind the formula appears to be
sound. The formula identifies a set number of minutes for each duty required by each room or
area to be cleaned. There is a set minimum based on the CASBO formula that is used as a
benchmark, and the actual number of minutes to complete the task is identified. The information
is used for tracking each of the sites cleaned. This information is analyzed to determine staffing
annually. An overall analysis for all sites is monitored by identifying the minimum minutes
versus actual minutes as a means of determining staffing through a chart. As mentioned above,
this is a reasonable methodology to use as a tool for determining staffing formulas. However, the
most recent report was from June 2010 and only provides data for eight of the 16 school sites.
The above CASBO formula takes into consideration all of a campus’ characteristics: including
restrooms, gyms, outside areas, offices, classrooms, special school needs, etc. The formula does
not take into consideration any specialized cleaning for extraordinary needs.
51
Most districts do not employ a significant number of facilities and planning staff, as the
customary practice is to contract with external experts for specialized work, such as an architect,
unless the district has a high need, such as a new school district or extensive modernization. This
is demonstrated within the District’s comparative group as well, as shown in Figure 16 later on
in this report. The District has staff to oversee facility modernization and construction projects,
but there is currently a building moratorium in the Natomas basin area, which will likely be in
place for the next few years. The facilities workload has diminished significantly in recent years.
All budgets related to facilities—the bonds, Routine Restricted Maintenance, Deferred
Maintenance, etc.—are currently managed by the Executive Director. An Accounting Specialist
position was created several years ago to support and account for the various funds received and
expended for the purpose of facilities. This position is under the Financial Services Department.
The Accounting Specialist generates budget transfers, which are then reviewed and approved by
the Executive Director before being posted by the Financial Services Department. This process
works well and should continue.
A project management system, separate from the QSS financial system, is used to monitor and
detail out the project tracking. Progress billings are first received in the Financial Services
Department and then sent to the Facilities and Planning Department for verification and
approval.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Shift the Executive Director of Facilities and Planning and the Director of
Transportation to report to the CFO (recommended to be the Assistant
Superintendent). We recommend that the Executive Director of Facilities and Planning and
the Director of Transportation report directly to the Assistant Superintendent, Business
Services. As discussed above, this should provide an additional level of oversight and
coordination in providing quality services to other departments and schools. We recommend
that the Custodial Supervisor continue to report to the Executive Director. This restructuring
will provide a more cohesive support structure for maintenance, operations, grounds,
facilities, and transportation, by providing for an additional level of oversight and
coordination. The recommended changes related to the organizational structure, which are
illustrated in Appendix B, will more closely align to that of a typical structure of districts of
similar size, as illustrated by the comparative district data to follow in this report.
2. Relocate the Executive Director of Facilities and Planning. The Executive Director should
be located in the same facility as the staff members that are supervised by that position. The
movement of the Executive Director to the Service Center where the staff members are
52
located should be an easy transition to make, as the Executive Director already maintains a
second office at that location.
3. Eliminate the Administrative Secretary position. This would leave the Department with
the 1.00 Administrative Assistant position, which should be able to provide the necessary
administrative support for the Department.
4. Schedule regular staff meetings. Regular meetings are the primary communication vehicle
for the Department to communicate amongst colleagues. The meetings should emphasize
important news and information, including opportunities to gain input from all staff
members. These meetings should continue on a monthly basis, with the administrators
making sure to disseminate information regarding any new or changing policies or
procedures.
5. Continue to maintain staffing formulas. We recommend that the District allocate
custodians to school sites based on the current District-approved formula, which has been
adopted from the CASBO formula. However, it is important that the methodology for
allocating custodians be monitored regularly to ensure that the staffing formula is
appropriately meeting service needs. The District should maintain the spreadsheet on a more
frequent basis to ensure that the current staffing ratios are appropriate. Since the formula
does not take into consideration any specialized cleaning for extraordinary needs, there
should be a provision for authorizing augmentations in special circumstances. Any such
recommendations should go from the Principal to the Executive Director and CFO, then to
the Cabinet for approval.
6. Consider reducing staff in the facilities projects area to reflect the reduced workload.
Given the building moratorium in the area and the minimal facilities projects underway and
expected in the next few years, we believe that the District should consider reducing staffing
levels in this area. As funds are available for construction or modernization projects and as
the building moratorium is lifted, the District should consider contracting with outside
experts for facility project needs since these are typically short-term needs that require
specific expertise. The District should still have a position designated, such as the Executive
Director or another management position with the appropriate skills, to be responsible for
facility project oversight.
TRANSPORTATION
The Transportation Director reports to the Executive Director of Facilities and Planning. The
Director of Transportation and the Transportation Supervisor supervise the District’s bus drivers
and the Driver/Mechanic.
53
Regular home-to-school transportation has been eliminated, with the exception of
transporting students who were displaced due to the renovation at the Leroy Greene Middle
School in 2011-12. The District also provides contracted services for transportation to the charter
schools in the district and to one within the Twin Rivers Unified School District. The District has
provided some contracted services for vehicle maintenance when requested. As a result, the
primary bus service is for special needs students.
The Director of Transportation has eight support staff and 21 full- or part-time bus drivers, with
a total of 26.27125 FTE, as shown in the table below:
Title of Position
FTE
Director of Transportation
1.00
Supervisor
1.00
Field Trip Coordinator
Bus Pass Technician/Driver (currently
located in reception area)
Dispatcher/Driver
1.00
Administrative Secretary
0.25
Lead Mechanic
1.00
Mechanic
1.00
Maintenance—Bus Driver
1.00
Bus Driver
1.00
1.00
18.02125
In looking at the comparative chart in Figure 21 later on in this report, the total FTEs in the
District’s Transportation Department are the second highest in the comparative group –
significantly higher than that for the rest of the districts, when the District provides regular
home-to-school transportation only for one school on a temporary basis for this year.
The Department currently does not use an automated routing system. It is our understanding that
the Dispatcher currently configures the routes and schedules the drivers on a daily basis. There
are multiple changes daily due to the high absence rate of drivers and furlough days. The
Director determines the driver schedule for the athletic events, field trips, and safety training.
The Transportation Department has been experiencing a large number of absences this fiscal
year with sick days, furlough days, and other time off—a situation that is occurring across the
District and that has been noted in earlier sections of this report. We did note through our
interviews that some of the primary duties identified in the job descriptions for the Director,
54
Dispatcher, and Supervisor are being impacted by the necessity to drive so often due to the lack
of drivers. The Maintenance-Bus Driver also drives quite often.
Most districts do not provide a full eight-hour schedule for bus drivers given the inherent
schedules to transport students in the morning and the afternoon. We understand that this is the
first year that there have been eight-hour positions available through the use of split shifts. Based
on input from staff members, it was noted that the process and procedures for determining the
full eight-hour shifts was inconsistent. Staff members indicate that they are required to remain on
site for the full eight hours whether they are driving or not. They are basically placed on standby
for that period of time that exceeds their routes in case they are needed. There are some staff
members that come in early and leave without signing out and others that leave earlier than their
sign out times. It is important that all staff members are held to the same standards that have
been established by law, by the Department, and by the District for time worked.
The Transportation Department currently has 0.25 FTE of an Administrative Secretary and
1.00 FTE of a Bus Pass Technician/Driver currently not being fully utilized. Also, the District
currently does not utilize an online process for parents to obtain bus passes. The Field Trip
Coordinator/Bus Driver is completing the assigned duties in less than four hours per day.
It was brought to our attention during our review of the Department that the maintenance of the
vehicles is not always completed in a timely manner to ensure safety of the staff and students.
The District offers maintenance of vehicles for buses and other equipment to outside agencies.
This is a benefit for the District, as it enhances revenues for the Department. The District should
be commended for its innovative thinking in offering a service to other agencies; however, it
should not be to the detriment of the District’s own vehicles. The District should be cognizant of
the potential liability of not maintaining its vehicles. Specifically, the maintenance of air
conditioning in buses was expressed as a concern.
Field trips and athletic events are a normal occurrence for the District throughout the school year.
The Department requires the completion of a form to request transportation prior to the date of
the field trip or athletic event. The forms are not always turned in prior to the date of the event.
Due to the lack of bus drivers available in the District, it is a significant impact to the
Department when there are last-minute requests. The District often must contract out to ensure
that there is coverage for the event. In addition, the regulations are specific to the number of
hours that a bus driver can drive in a day. If the drivers have met the maximum number of hours
for the day and there are no substitutes available, then it requires that the District scramble to
find transportation, which may require contracting out, thereby increasing the District’s costs.
The Transportation Director is physically located where the transportation operations are
occurring, which provides for appropriate onsite supervision and leadership for the staff.
55
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Shift the Director position to report to the CFO instead of the Executive Director. We
recommend that the District transfer the responsibility of this Department directly to the
CFO, as recommended in the previous section of this report.
2. Conduct a detailed transportation study and make adjustments to routes and staffing
as necessary. Given the high level of staffing in this District as compared with the other
districts in the comparative group, we recommend that the District conduct a detailed study
of its transportation program, including a review of bus routes, staffing, boundaries,
contracts/memorandums of understanding, and its pricing structure. The District should apply
the results of this study to make adjustments in its routes, contracts, staffing, and other
components as necessary to become more efficient and reflective of an appropriate level of
staffing for the services provided.
3. Reorganize the bus pass process. We recommend that bus passes be handled by the
Dispatcher position and that the District explore using an online process for parents to
purchase bus passes. Parents could then pick up the bus passes from the Dispatcher. We
further recommend that the Bus Pass Technician be transitioned to a Bus Driver position and
physically back to the Transportation Department.
4. Eliminate the Administrative Secretary position. We recommend this position currently
providing 0.25 FTE in support to this Department be eliminated. The duties of this position
are currently being covered by staff within the Transportation Department, which is in line
with our recommendation to increase bus drivers and decrease the amount of time spent by
the Director, Supervisor, and Dispatcher driving on a daily basis to allow for other duties
identified in the job description to be accomplished.
5. Eliminate the Field Trip Coordinator/Bus Driver position. The District should eliminate
this position and combine the duties with the dispatching function to ensure efficiency within
the Transportation Department. The workload can be managed as long as the Dispatcher is
not required to drive as much as is currently required (see other recommendations to address
this).
6. Implement an automated routing system. We recommend that the District utilize an
automated routing system for its routes. The Transportation Director’s job description
identifies one of the position’s responsibilities as that for determining routes. We recommend
that the Supervisor position be identified as a back-up to person responsible for the routing
functions.
56
7. Provide greater coverage for absences and vacancies. With the size of the Transportation
Department, it will continue to be difficult to cover all absences. The District should continue
its efforts to increase its pool of substitutes, but should also consider adding one or two more
positions (i.e., bus driver floaters) to allow for the Dispatcher, Supervisor, and Director to
complete their primary tasks. The goal is to have enough staff to appropriately cover all
absences and vacancies without having to use permanent staff. However, with that said, there
are many challenges facing the District, and it may not be feasible to fully implement this
recommendation at this time. We would, at a minimum, recommend that the Director and
Dispatcher minimize driving time.
8. Schedule regular staff meetings. Regular meetings are the primary communication vehicle
for the Department to communicate amongst colleagues. The meetings should emphasize
important news and information, including opportunities to gain input from all staff
members. These meetings should continue on a monthly basis with the administrators
making sure to disseminate information regarding any new or changing policies or
procedures.
9. Ensure that buses are maintained in working condition. Standards for bus maintenance
should be ensured so that buses are available and in working condition as needed.
10. Require that transportation request forms are turned in timely. Requests for
transportation for field trips and athletic events should be submitted to Transportation far
enough in advance so that drivers and buses can be scheduled appropriately, and so that the
District can minimize the cost of contracting out.
11. Reduce the hours per day for bus drivers based on District need. The District has 8-hour
bus drivers, when most districts have bus drivers scheduled to regularly work four to six
hours per day, depending on the District’s needs. The District needs to stabilize its routes,
determine the number of hours per day that bus drivers are normally needed, and establish
positions at that level of hours and not beyond the number of hours normally needed.
57
School Site Administrative and Office Staffing
The focus of this portion of the study was to address the positions for administrators and support
staff members that perform the functions needed in the central offices at the school sites. The job
classifications that are the focus of this part of the study because they have been established for
the administrative functions at one or more school sites in the District are as follows:
Certificated
Principal
Classified
Attendance Technician
Assistant Principal
Bookkeeper
Counselor
Career Technician
Health Services Assistant I
Health Services Assistant II
Office Specialist II
Registrar
School Secretary I
School Secretary II
School Secretary III
These positions are combined into job families and then discussed in the following sections of
this report. For purposes of this report, “elementary schools” includes Heron School, which is a
K-8 school, unless otherwise noted.
PRINCIPALS AND ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
The comprehensive school sites and the continuation high school are each staffed with a
1.00 FTE Principal. This is consistent with the staffing levels of the school sites in the
comparative group (see “School Site Staffing Comparison” section later in this report).
There are Assistant Principals at the middle school and the comprehensive high schools of the
District, as follows:
Natomas Middle School—1.60 FTEs Assistant Principal
Inderkum High School—3.00 FTEs Assistant Principal
Natomas High School—2.00 FTEs Assistant Principal
58
Natomas Middle School’s School Site Council has approved using categorical funds to support
0.40 FTE of an Assistant Principal to work with teachers on collaboration, student data, and
other functions as appropriate for the funding source.
Natomas High School’s allocation included another 1.00 FTE Assistant Principal until this year,
when the incumbent was transferred to Inderkum High School. At that time, there was a decision
to generate budget savings by eliminating the Assistant Principal position, which is a certificated
administrator position and requires a credential. A Coordinator, School Site Services position—a
classified management position—was created in its place. A new job description was prepared,
which specifies that the position reports to the Principal and the overall objective is that the
position “assists with a wide range of duties related to the school, including managing student
behavior issues; participating in staff and student activities; and assisting with school/community
leadership activities.”
HEALTH SERVICES
Health Services Assistant positions for each school in the District, as specified in the position
control listing, are in the table below. Each incumbent has a 0.75 FTE assignment. Split
assignments are indicated by unique letters in the parentheses.
School
American Lakes Elementary
Bannon Creek Elementary
H. Allen Hight Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
Natomas Park Elementary
Two Rivers Elementary
Witter Ranch Elementary
Heron School (K-8)
Natomas Middle School
Discovery High School
(continuation)
Inderkum High School
Natomas High School
2011-12
Enrollment
524
645
744
488
859
587
945
839
942
Health Services
Assistant I
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Health Services
Assistant II
0.25 FTE (A)—10 months
0.375 FTE (D)—10 months
0.375 FTE (B)—10 months
0.375 FTE (C)—10 months
146
—
—
0.75 FTE—10 months
—
—
1,558
1,238
The above table reflects the information in the position control listing, but interviews with staff
indicated that the continuation high school is receiving services from a Health Services Assistant
two six-hour days per week that is shared with an elementary school. Both high schools indicated
59
that they have their Health Services Assistant for seven hours per day, but position control
indicates six hours per day. Here is a listing of the Health Services Assistants based upon our
interviews with staff, which differs from what position control shows in the previous table:
School
American Lakes Elementary
Bannon Creek Elementary
H. Allen Hight Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
Natomas Park Elementary
Two Rivers Elementary
Witter Ranch Elementary
Heron School (K-8)
(continuation)
Natomas High School
2011-12
Enrollment
524
645
744
488
859
587
945
839
942
Health Services
Assistant I
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Health Services
Assistant II
0.375 FTE (E)—10 months
0.375 FTE (E)—10 months
146
—
—
—
1,558
1,238
Health services at the school sites are backed up by the School Secretary positions or by the
District’s centralized Nurse positions that are split among the school sites.
COUNSELING SERVICES
During the budget crisis of the last several years, positions in counseling services have been
eliminated or reduced at all schools. At the elementary schools and at the continuation high
school, academic counseling services are the responsibility of the Principals.
At the middle school, academic counseling is handled by the Principals and the Assistant
Principals. At Heron School, which is K-8 and includes middle school-level students, the
academic counseling is performed by the Principal as it is for the other elementary schools of the
District.
Each of the two comprehensive high schools has 2.00 FTEs Counselors. The two schools share a
1.00 FTE, 11-month Career Technician position. The position control listing indicates that the
split is 50/50, but interviewees indicated a 60/40 split.
60
SECRETARIES
Secretarial and related office support positions for the schools in the District as reflected in the
position control listing are in the table below.
School
American Lakes
Elementary
Bannon Creek
Elementary
H. Allen Hight
Elementary
Jefferson
Elementary
Natomas Park
Elementary
Two Rivers
Elementary
Witter Ranch
Elementary
Heron School
(K-8)
Natomas Middle
School
Discovery High
School
(continuation)
Inderkum High
School
Natomas High
School
2011-12
Enrollment
524
645
744
488
859
587
945
839
942
146
1,558
School
Secretary I
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
School
Secretary II
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
School
Secretary III
Office
Specialist II
1.00 FTE
11 months*
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
2.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
0.75 FTE
11 months
2.00 FTE
11 months
2.00 FTE
11 months
2.00 FTE
12 months
1,238
1.00 FTE
11 months +
0.50 FTE
12 months
*Grandfathered; will be replaced through attrition with a School Secretary II
While the above staffing is reflected in the position control listing, interviews with school staff
indicated that there is an Office Specialist II position at Natomas High School that is temporary
and ends at the conclusion of this school year.
61
STUDENT RECORDS AND ATTENDANCE
While the elementary school Site Secretary positions handle student enrollment, attendance, and
records, the more specialized needs at the middle and high schools are handled by Attendance
Technicians and Registrars. The staffing levels provided are as follows:
School
Enrollment
Registrar
942
—
(continuation)
146
—
1,558
Natomas High School
1,238
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
12 months
Attendance
Technician
1.00 FTE
10 months
—
1.00 FTE
11 months
1.00 FTE
11 months
The Budget Review report just submitted to the District indicates the importance of improving
the attendance of students that are enrolled. Attendance Technicians are critical to this effort.
ESSENTIAL NEEDS
One of the objectives of our interviews with school site staff was to determine the areas of
greatest need in terms of administrative and office support. The comprehensive high schools, the
continuation high school, the K-8 school, and the larger elementary schools all indicated a need
for additional Counselor and/or Assistant Principal support. Other school site staff expressed
concerns about having part-time health assistants when students come into the office all day with
health services needs. Interviewees also acknowledged the need for better coordination of
student data and records with the District Office.
The comparative data indicates that the District is relatively lean in staffing when it comes to the
following types of positions at the school sites:
Principal/Assistant Principals at the elementary and middle schools
Administrative office support positions at the elementary and middle schools
Counselor positions at the middle school, comprehensive high schools, and continuation high
school
Health services positions at the middle school
62
As the District has struggled with its budget challenges in recent years, it has been necessary to
make reductions across all areas of the District including support staff at the school sites. We
make recommendations below to help the District ensure that staffing levels are fairly applied
among all school sites.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Assess the effectiveness of the Coordinator, School Site services position at Natomas
High School. The elimination of an Assistant Principal position and its replacement by a
classified Coordinator, School Site Services position were effective this year. We
recommend that, since this transition has not been attempted before in the District, an
assessment of the impact of this change on school site administration, support, students,
teaching staff, and operations be prepared in order to determine whether the School Site
Coordinator position is adequately meeting the support needs of the school. This assessment
should be completed early enough to enact staffing changes if needed before the next school
year.
2. Reconcile position control records with the information provided by school site
administrators. As noted in the sections above, the position control records differ from the
information provided in our interviews with school site administrators. This information
should be reconciled, and position control records or site staffing rosters should be
synchronized accordingly.
3. Establish staffing formulas that reflect factors reflected by each school. In general,
staffing levels are determined by the grade span of the schools. However, health services
staffing levels in particular do not appear to be determined by enrollment or other factors
within each type of school at the elementary schools and at the middle school. Secretarial
support at the elementary schools does not appear to be distinguished by school size or need.
Registrar and Attendance Technician staffing does not seem to be distinguished by the
number of students at each high school site. We recommend that staffing allocations be
determined that are reflective of school site needs for all of the positions analyzed in this
section of the report, such as enrollment, student mobility, and special populations served.
The number of hours per day and the number of days/months per year should be determined
by these allocations. The District should especially take a look at the number of months
positions are assigned and how much they are really required to work beyond the school
calendar. We expect that the current staffing levels can be ratcheted back—either in hours or
days—at some school sites based upon these allocations, which therefore could provide some
budget savings. Application of staffing allocations every year as student populations change
at the school sites will help ensure objectivity and fairness in the staffing process.
63
4. Determine whether it is cost-beneficial to augment school site attendance staff. As
recommended in the Budget Review report, the District could benefit financially from
improving student attendance. In considering attendance incentive programs, the District
should consider whether restoring attendance staff at the school sites would assist in this
effort and therefore prove cost-beneficial.
5. Plan for augmentations of counseling and health services support. We recommend that
the District prepare a plan and a staffing allocation that prioritizes restoring
Counselors/Assistant Principals and Health Services Assistant hours at the school sites when
allowable based upon the District’s finances. These were the areas identified for the greatest
need at the school sites and with a direct impact on students.
6. Plan to augment administrative staffing at elementary schools. The District should also
determine a staffing allocation that authorizes additional administrative hours – either in the
form of Assistant Principals or School Site Coordinators – to augment the staffing at the
larger elementary schools. The comparative chart in Figure 31 later on in this report clearly
shows that the District’s ratio of students to school site principals is significantly higher than
that for the comparative group.
64
District Office Staffing Comparison
Comparisons Based on School Districts of Similar Size
The District was compared to a statewide unified school district comparative group in order to
determine how the District ranked in terms of staffing. When comparing staffing, the most
relevant comparisons are to school districts similar in size (enrollment or ADA) and the grade
span served. Using statewide statistics on district size as measured by ADA, nine comparative
unified school districts were selected and contacted, and we received responses from five
districts. The 2010-11 ADA and funded base revenue limit funding of the responding districts
are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: ADA of Comparative Districts
Azusa USD
10,133
2010-11 Funded
Base Revenue Limit
$5,214
Ceres USD
11,833
$5,209
El Rancho USD
9,906
$5,219
Lucia Mar USD
10,114
$5,223
Natomas USD
11,697
$5,314
Rocklin USD
11,427
$5,244
District
2010-11 Regular P-2 ADA
Source: 2010-11 State-certified data; ADA includes charter school ADA funded through Charter School Block Grant.
DISTRICT OFFICE STAFFING
The following tables show the total number of district office FTEs and the total number of
district office management and administrator FTEs relative to ADA. It is important to base these
comparisons on a per-ADA basis because, although the districts are similar in ADA, to
accurately compare FTE staffing across all districts, a common factor must be used. All staffing
ratios will be calculated as student ADA divided by FTEs.
Please note that the data for Ceres USD was unverified by the district at the time of the draft
report writing and the text has been highlighted in order to denote this, and in some cases, the
boxes were intentionally left blank because the district did not provide the data. A final review of
the data for Ceres USD will be completed once Ceres USD verifies the data.
Figure 2 shows that on a per-ADA basis, Azusa USD has the greatest number of district office
FTEs in the comparison group (including management and nonmanagement positions) at a ratio
65
of 89:1. Rocklin USD has the fewest district office FTEs in the comparison group when
compared on a per-ADA basis at 130:1. The District has a ratio of 107:1, ranking the third
highest in the comparison group for the number of district office staff. This comparison is
important for a general understanding of the size of the respective district offices; however, each
division and department must be examined to consider individual issues and considerations that
may affect each district’s staffing. These detailed comparisons are provided in the following
section.
Figure 2: 2010-11 All District Office FTEs Staffing Ratio to 2010-11 ADA
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Total District Office FTEs
113.30
102.003
81.00
105.4063
110.27125
87.93875
2010-11 ADA
10,133
11,833
9,906
10,114
11,697
11,427
89:1
116:1
122:1
96:1
107:1
130:1
Staffing Ratio to ADA
Source: 2010-11 State-certified data, district-provided data; ADA includes charter school ADA funded through Charter School Block Grant.
When comparing district cabinet-level administrators only (superintendents, assistant or
associate superintendents, and executive directors/directors as classified by the reporting
districts), the District has fewer FTEs than Lucia Mar USD, El Rancho USD, and Rocklin USD
at 2,023:1; 1,981:1; and 1,632:1; respectively. As shown in Figure 3, the District’s ratio of
2,339 students to one District cabinet-level administrator demonstrates that the District has richer
staffing than two of the districts in the comparative group, Azusa USD and Ceres USD.
Figure 3: 2010-11 District Administrator FTEs Staffing Ratio to 2010-11 ADA
(Cabinet-Level Position)
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho Lucia Mar Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Total District Administrator
4.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
FTEs
Rocklin
USD
2010-11 ADA
10,133
11,833
9,906
10,114
11,697
11,427
Staffing Ratio to ADA
2,533:1
2,367:1
1,981:1
2,023:1
2,339:1
1,632:1
7.00
Source: 2010-11 State-certified data, district-provided data; ADA includes charter school ADA funded through Charter School Block Grant.
The following table identifies the positions that make up the superintendent’s cabinet at each
district.
66
Figure 4: Superintendent’s Cabinet
Cabinet
Total
FTEs:
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
4.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
7.00
District
Superintendent
District
Superintendent
District
Superintendent
District
Superintendent
District
Superintendent
District
Superintendent
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business
Services
Chief Financial
Officer (CFO)
Associate
Superintendent,
Business
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
Deputy
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Curriculum
Assistant
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
Deputy
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human
Resources
Assistant
Superintendent,
Personnel
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human
Resources
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human
Resources
Director, Human
Resources
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human
Resources
Assistant
Superintendent,
Student Services
Director, Student
Services
Director, Student
Services
Director, Special
Education/
Support
Programs
Director,
Elementary
Programs
Executive
Director,
Facilities and
Planning
Assistant
Superintendent,
Facilities and
Operations
67
It is important to also consider that the last few years have brought about significant changes in
the way school districts operate and are staffed. With the severe cuts to state education funding,
school districts have been forced to reduce staff at both the district office and site levels in
addition to reducing programs. For example, in 2009-10, districts across the state received a
22% reduction in revenue limit funding—the primary funding source for public school districts.
In 2010-11, the reduction was almost 18%, continuing into the 2011-12 school year. Because the
factor is the same for all revenue limit funded school districts across the state, many districts are
not staffed to optimal or even functional levels today. We continue to see examples of this across
the state, and it has been demonstrated in the comparative staffing data—many districts are
staffed to bare-minimum levels. In providing staffing information to the District, the comparative
data from the 2009-10 state-certified database (the most recent state-certified data), which
demonstrates student enrollment per district-level administrators is shown in the following table.
When looking at district-level administrators, the District had a larger ratio of student enrollment
per district-level administrator, as shown in Figure 5. This demonstrates that in 2009-10, the
District had fewer district-level administrators relative to enrollment as compared to the other
districts in the comparison group, and as compared to the Comparative Group and Statewide
Unified District Averages. District-level administrators include certificated and classified
administrators as reported through the CBEDS by the respective districts.
Figure 5: School Enrollment per
District-Level Administrator 2009-101
District
2009-10
1
Lucia Mar USD
N/A
2
Ceres USD
827.27
3
Azusa USD
990.27
-
Comparative Group Average
1,045.41
-
Statewide Unified District Average
1,209.66
4
Natomas USD
1,238.20
5
Rocklin USD
1,421.88
6
El Rancho USD
1,510.86
Source: 2009-10 State-certified data.
1 2009 CBEDS data submission experienced difficulties due to the delayed launch of CALPADs.
Due to the delay, some data files used in this section of the report are incomplete or
unavailable. Alternative data sources and/or calculations were used where available. As a
result, some inconsistencies may appear when reviewing historical information.
68
Another important staffing factor when analyzing total district office FTEs is the number of
classified staff. A large percentage of a district’s clerical staff is often housed at the district
office, such as administrative assistants, secretaries, technicians, and other support staff.
According to 2009-10 state-certified data, the District had the third lowest student enrollment per
classified staff as compared to the group—shown in Figure 6. This indicates that, relative to
enrollment, the District had more clerical staff than both the Comparative District and Statewide
Unified District Averages, and three of the comparative districts. It should be noted that because
of reductions to state education funding, Natomas USD, along with many, if not all, of the other
comparative districts, have made reductions to all staff since 2009-10. The current-year
enrollment ratio might differ significantly, but statewide certified data for 2010-11 or 2011-12 is
not yet available.
Figure 6: School Enrollment per Clerical Employees 2009-101
District
2009-10
1
Azusa USD
85.50
2
Ceres USD
95.13
3
Natomas USD
98.68
-
Comparative District Average
122.00
-
128.16
4
Lucia Mar USD
131.63
5
Rocklin USD
136.85
6
El Rancho USD
159.95
1 2009 CBEDS data submission experienced difficulties due to the delayed launch of CALPADs.
Due to the delay, some data files used in this section of the report are incomplete or
unavailable. Alternative data sources and/or calculations were used where available. As a
result, some inconsistencies may appear when reviewing historical information.
The following tables detail the district office staffing for the comparison group. This data was
collected by survey of the comparison districts and the data is as complete and accurate as the
districts were able to provide. The primary sources for all districts were position control reports
and district organizational charts. The table is partitioned into divisions to show the staffing for
each department within each respective division. It is important to note that the following tables
contain the most similar comparisons, and that some positions in other districts may report to
different divisions/departments, and this has been noted where appropriate. The staffing is
grouped into the following divisions/departments, reflective of the District’s current
organizational structure for comparison purposes:
69
Superintendent’s Office
Business Services
Facilities, Planning, and Transportation (including Maintenance)
Human Resources
Shaded gray boxes indicate that a comparative district did not report data for that
division/department, or that it does not have comparable staffing. In order to show the most
similar comparison, positions were matched to those at Natomas USD. The organizational charts
illustrating the reporting structure for the comparative districts are provided in Appendix C
through Appendix H. It should also be noted that in certain instances, for the comparative
districts, some currently vacant positions were still listed on the organizational chart or position
control reports, and in order to accurately reflect the staffing structure, those positions were
included with a notation of the vacancy to correctly reflect the total number of positions.
70
SUPERINTENDENT’S OFFICE
Figure 7: Superintendent’s Office
Total
District
Office
FTEs:
Superintendent’s Office
Admin.
Title:
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Filled FTEs:
108.30
Vacant FTEs:
5.00
Total FTEs:
113.30
District
Superintendent
1.00
Filled FTEs:
100.003
Vacant FTEs:
2.00
Total FTEs:
102.003
District
Superintendent
1.00
Filled FTEs:
80.00
Vacant FTEs:
1.00
Total FTEs:
81.00
District
Superintendent
1.00
Filled FTEs:
105.4063
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
105.4063
District
Superintendent
1.00
Filled FTEs:
106.27125
Vacant FTEs:
4.00
Total FTEs:
110.27125
District
Superintendent
1.00
Filled FTEs:
87.93875
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
87.93875
District
Superintendent
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Executive
Assistant
1.00
School/Staff
Secretary III
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Secretary
1.00
Clerk Typist
II/Bilingual
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Administrative
Assistant
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Executive
Assistant
1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Executive
Assistant
1.00
Receptionist/
Clerk
1.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Director,
Communication
& Community
Affairs
1.00
Communication
Specialist
1.00
Print Shop Tech
2.00
General Office
Clerk
1.00
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
School &
Community
Communication
Specialist
0.75
At-Risk
Coordinator
1.00
Total FTEs: 6.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.75
Total FTEs: 7.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
Total FTEs: 3.75
Total FTEs: 3.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
The District has a staff of 3.00 FTEs in the Superintendent’s Office, about average when
compared to the other districts. Each district has a superintendent with support staff, but two
districts, Azusa USD and Lucia Mar USD, have additional staff which support the districts in
different capacities “located” in the Superintendent’s Office table because of the reporting
structure. As a result, this has increased the total FTEs for the Superintendent’s Office in these
71
two districts. Overall, all districts, with the exception of Lucia Mar USD, have two
administrative support positions providing support to the Superintendent and District Office.
Lucia Mar USD employs 1.00 FTE Administrative Assistant.
BUSINESS SERVICES DIVISION
Figure 8: Business Services
Total
Dept.
FTEs:
Business Services
Admin. Office
Staff
Admin.
Title:
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Filled FTEs: 35.00
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 35.00
Filled FTEs: 42.125
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 42.125
Filled FTEs: 31.00
Vacant FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 32.00
Filled FTEs: 30.375
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 30.375
Filled FTEs: 31.00
Vacant FTEs: 3.00
Total FTEs: 34.00
Filled FTEs: 25.50
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 25.50
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business
Services
1.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business Services
1.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business Services
1.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business Services
1.00
Chief Financial
Officer
1.00
Associate
Superintendent,
Business Services
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Secretary
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
School/Staff
Secretary IV
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Administrative
Secretary I/
Confidential
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Administrative
Assistant
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Administrative
Assistant III
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
The Business Services Division comparison includes three departments: Financial Services
(including Purchasing and Warehouse), Technology, and Food Services. The District has the
third largest number of filled FTEs at 31.00, as compared to the other districts in the Business
Services Division as displayed in Figure 8. The comparative group staffing of Business Services
departments ranges from Azusa USD, with the largest staff at 35.00 FTEs, to Rocklin USD with
the smallest staff at 25.50 FTEs.
72
Each district has an administrator charged with leading the Business Services division of the
respective district. All districts, with the exception of Natomas USD, have an assistant or
associate superintendent in this position. The span of control and direct reports for each of the
administrators varies and is shown in Figure 9 (the total direct report FTEs include vacant
positions). Each district has an administrative support position, i.e., secretary, or administrative
assistant, assigned to support the division administrator.
Azusa
USD
Areas of Oversight
Admin.
Title:
Figure 9: Business Services Administrator Direct Oversight Areas
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business
Services
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Director, Fiscal
Services
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business Services
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business Services
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business Services
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Chief Financial
Officer
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Associate
Superintendent,
Business Services
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Director, Fiscal
Services
Director, Fiscal
Services
Director, Fiscal
Services
Director, Financial
Services
Director, Fiscal &
Purchasing
Services
Director, MOT
Director, M&O
Director,
Maintenance
Executive Director,
Facilities/MOT
Director, Food
Services
Director,
Nutrition
Services
Director, Child
Nutrition
Director, Food
Services
Director,
Purchasing/
Warehouse/
Contracts/Food
Service
Director,
Technology
(vacant)
Coordinator, IT
Supervisor,
MIS/Technology
Program
Specialist – Tech
Resource Center
Director,
Transportation
Administrative
Secretary IV
Total FTEs: 6.00
Director, IT
(vacant)
Director,
Purchasing and
Warehouse
Administrative
Secretary
Director, Food
Services
School Secretary
Administrative
Assistant
Administrative
Secretary
Secretary
Total
Direct
Report
FTEs
Rocklin
USD
Total FTEs: 6.00
Total FTEs: 6.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
Currently, the Director position of Technology is vacant in Natomas USD, so as a result, all
technology staff, 7.00 FTEs, report to the CFO. This has increased the number of direct report
FTEs for the CFO to 10.00 FTEs. The District is in the process of filling the Director of
Technology position, at which time the position is filled, the number of direct reports to the CFO
will decrease to 4.00 FTEs, as shown in Figure 9.
73
Figure 10: Business Services—Financial Services
Azusa
USD
Financial Services
Director, Fiscal
Services
1.00
Accounting
Supervisor
1.00
Accountant
1.00
Lead Account
Clerk
1.00
Account Clerk III
(Certificated
Payroll)
1.00
Account Clerk III
(Classified
Payroll)
1.00
Account Clerk III
(Medical
Benefits/AP)
1.00
Account Clerk II
(AP)
1.00
Total FTEs: 8.00
Ceres
USD
Director, Fiscal
Services
1.00
Administrative
Secretary IV
1.00
Lead District
Accountant
1.00
Accountant I
3.50
Accountant III
3.50
Benefits Specialist
1.00
Budget Analyst
1.00
Lead Payroll
Accountant
1.00
Payroll Accountant
1.00
Payroll Technician
0.50
Total FTEs: 14.50
El Rancho
USD
Director, Fiscal
Services
1.00
Assistant Director,
Fiscal Services
1.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Director, Fiscal
Services
1.00
Natomas
USD
Director,
Financial Services
1.00
Rocklin
USD
Director, Fiscal
Services
1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Account Clerk
1.00
Sr. Bookkeeper
4.00
Bookkeeper
2.00
Payroll Technician
3.00
Insurance/Benefits
Technician
(Confidential)
(Reports to
Assistant
Superintendent,
Business Services)
1.00
Total FTEs: 13.00
Fiscal Analyst
1.00
Certificated Senior
Account TechPayroll
1.00
Classified Senior
Account TechPayroll
1.00
Account Tech
5.625
Total FTEs: 9.625
Accountant
1.00
Account Specialist
1.00
Account Tech III
(ASB)
1.00
Account Tech III
(Mandated Costs)
0.75
Account Tech
1.00
Account Tech (AP)
1.00
Payroll Technician
2.00
Benefits
Technician
1.00
Attendance
Liaison
1.00
Accounting
Manager
1.00
Accountant
2.00
Payroll Technician
3.00
Business
Technician
1.00
Accounting
Technician II
1.00
Total FTEs: 9.00
Total FTEs: 11.75
74
Financial Services (cont’)
Figure 10: Business Services—Financial Services
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Buyer
1.00
Warehousekeeper
1.00
Messenger/Warehousekeeper
1.00
Data Entry Clerk
1.00
Purchasing &
Contracts Specialist
1.00
Warehouse Clerk
1.00
Delivery Driver
1.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Total FTEs: 2.75
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 12.00
Total FTEs: 17.50
Total FTEs: 17.00
Total FTEs: 12.375
Total FTEs: 13.75
Director,
Purchasing/
Warehouse
1.00
Department
Secretary
1.00
Sr. Warehouse
Worker
1.00
Warehouse
Worker
1.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Director,
Purchasing/
Warehouse/
Contracts/Food
Services
(see Food Services)
Warehouse/Delivery
Person
2.75
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Purchasing
Coordinator
1.00
Warehouse
Specialist II
1.00
Total FTE: 9.00
Shown in Figure 10, the District’s Financial Services Department staffing at 13.75 FTEs is
smaller than both Ceres USD at 17.50 FTEs, and El Rancho USD at 17.00 FTEs. Each of the
comparative districts has a Director of Fiscal/Financial Services position to oversee each
districts’ financial services division. The job descriptions for the Director of Fiscal/Financial
Services positions from each of the comparative districts speaks to similar responsibilities
including: (under administrative direction) to plan, organize, and supervise the budgeting and
accounting activities of the District; to perform the more difficult duties in connection with
budget control and financial reporting; and to do related work as required.
In all of the comparative districts, including Natomas USD, the Assistant Superintendent of
Business Services or the Chief Financial Officer oversees other departments in addition to
Financial Services, so it is important that the Director of Financial Services position in each
district is able to execute high level financial analytical work in order to support the division
administrator. Only one of the comparative districts, Ceres USD, has an Administrative
Secretary (1.00 FTE) position assigned to support the Director of Fiscal Services. Natomas USD
also employs an Administrative Secretary (1.00 FTE) to support the Director of Fiscal Services.
The Director of Fiscal Services positions in each of the comparative districts oversee and
supervise the following number of positions: Azusa USD—7.00 FTEs, Ceres USD—16.50
FTEs, El Rancho USD—12.00 FTEs, Lucia Mar USD—8.625 FTEs, Natomas USD—12.75
FTEs, and Rocklin USD—8.00 FTEs.
75
El Rancho USD also has an Assistant Director of Fiscal Services which, under the supervision of
the Director of Fiscal Services, performs audit functions and assists in the planning, organizing,
and directing of financial record keeping systems.
In reviewing the Financial Services departments’ technical and support staff (excluding Director
and Assistant Director positions), Natomas USD has 10.75 FTEs, less than Ceres USD at
13.50 FTEs and El Rancho USD at 11.00 FTEs. The remaining three comparative districts
employ fewer technical and support staff than Natomas USD: Lucia Mar USD—8.625 FTEs,
Rocklin USD—8.00 FTEs, and Azusa USD—7.00 FTEs.
Financial Services also includes the Purchasing and Warehouse staff. Two of the comparative
districts, El Rancho USD and Lucia Mar USD employ directors to oversee the Purchasing and
Warehouse business. For Azusa USD, Ceres USD, and Natomas USD, the Purchasing and
Warehouse staff all report to the Director of Fiscal Services. Natomas USD has the fewest FTEs
in this area at 2.00 FTEs. Three comparative districts have support staff assigned to the
Purchasing and Warehouse function, Azusa USD, Ceres USD, and El Rancho USD. It should be
noted, however, that though Rocklin USD does not have staff assigned to the Purchasing
and Warehouse department, the District does employ 2.00 FTEs delivery drivers in the
MOT department. Natomas USD also employs 1.75 FTEs delivery drivers in the Food Services
department.
76
Figure 11: Business Services—Technology
Azusa
USD
Technology (IT)
Supervisor, MIS/
Technology
1.00
Secretary I
1.00
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Data Technician
1.00
Programmer
Analyst
2.00
Data & Software
Specialist
1.00
Technology
Worker III
3.00
Network
Technician
1.00
Program
Specialist Tech.
Resource Center
(Reports Directly
to Asst. Supt. of
Business
Services)
1.00
General Office
Clerk (Reports to
Program
Specialist in
Tech. Resource
Center)
1.00
Total FTEs: 12.00
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Director, IT
1.00
Director, IT
1.00 (Vacant)
School/Staff
Secretary IV
1.00
Computer Specialist
7.00
Computer Specialist
II
1.00
Database
Administrator
1.00
Network
Administrator
1.00
Duplicating/
Finishing Equip.
Operator
1.00
Graphic Arts
Specialist
1.00
Data Processing
Clerk II
2.00
Computer System
Specialist
2.00
Computer Network
Specialist
3.00
Total FTEs: 14.00
Total FTEs: 8.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Director, IT
1.00
(reports to Asst.
Supt. Curriculum
Natomas
USD
Chief
Technology
Officer
1.00 (Vacant)
PC Network
Specialist II
4.00
PC Network
Specialist III
2.00
SIS Manager
1.00
Student Records
Specialist
1.00
Tech. Staff
Support II
1.00
Telecommunication
Tech II
1.00
Senior Systems
Engineer
1.00
Systems Engineer
1.00
Database
Specialist
1.00
Student
Information/Datab
se Specialist
1.00
SIS Specialist
1.00 (Vacant)
IT Specialist III
3.00
Total FTEs: 11.00
Total FTEs: 9.00
Rocklin
USD
Director,
Technology
1.00
(reports to Asst.
Supt. Facilities &
Operations
Department
Secretary
0.50
Network
Administrator
1.00
Network
Coordinator
1.00
Systems Engineer
1.00
Computer
Maintenance Tech.
2.00
Database
Specialist
1.00
Computer Center
Tech.
1.00
Network
CoordinatorBased at High
Schools
2.00
Total FTEs: 10.50
When looking at technology staff based in the district office, the District’s Technology
Department has a smaller staff than all but one of the comparative districts with 9.00 FTEs. The
District does have two vacant positions, Chief Technology Officer (1.00 FTE) and SIS Specialist
(1.00 FTE). The District is in the process of hiring a Chief Technology Officer to fill the
77
Supervisor position, but the SIS Specialist position is expected to remain vacant. El Rancho USD
has the smallest technology staff at 8.00 FTEs. This includes one vacant position, Director of IT
(1.00 FTE).
All districts, with the exception of El Rancho USD and Natomas USD, have a Director or
Supervisor position to oversee the technology area. Ceres USD has the largest staffing in this
area with 14.00 FTEs; however, it is important to note that this total includes two unique
positions that the other districts don’t employ: Duplicating/Finishing Equipment Operator and
Graphic Arts Specialist.
Figure 12 shows the comparative districts’ technical/software support for the district office
and school sites: Azusa USD—4.00 FTEs (3.00 FTEs and 1.00 FTEs software support),
Ceres USD—8.00 FTEs, El Rancho USD—5.375 FTEs (3.00 FTEs, 2.00 FTEs software support,
and 0.375 Computer Resource Aide at the high school), Lucia Mar USD—8.00 FTEs (7.00 FTEs
and 1.00 FTEs telecommunications support), Natomas USD—3.00 FTEs, and Rocklin USD—
11.15875 FTEs, which include two Network Coordinators based at high school sites in order to
best support the needs of those sites. When reviewing technology district and site support, it
appears that Natomas USD has fewer staff available to meet the needs of staff than the
comparative districts.
Figure 12: 2011-12 Technology Site Support FTEs Staffing Ratio
to Number of School Sites
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD5
USD
USD
USD
USD
13
17
17.00
18
Number of Sites
Total
4.00
8.00?
5.375
8.002
3.00
Technology
Support FTEs
2011-12
10,111
9,588
10,519
12,350
Enrollment
2,528:1
1,784:1
1,315:1
4117:14
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
16
11.158753
10,768
965:1
Source: District-reported staffing and enrollment data.
Note: 2011-12 enrollment includes only those sites serviced by district staff as reported by the district, and number of sites
includes continuation high schools.
1 Rocklin USD did not provide 2011-12 enrollment data. Used 2010-11 CBEDS enrollment data.
2 Technology support for sites based at Lucia Mar USD district office.
3 11.15875 FTEs include 2.00 Network Coordinators based at the high schools.
4 Includes charter Enrollment; technology site staff support these sites/students.
5 School sites include all school sites, including charter schools, District Office and Service Center.
78
Figure 13: Business Services—Food Services
Food Services
Azusa
USD
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Director,
Food Services
1.00
Director, Nutrition
Services
1.00
Director, Child
Nutrition
1.00
Director,
Food Services
1.00
Director,
Purchasing/
Warehouse/
Contracts/Food
Services
1.00
Director,
Food Services
1.00
Nutrition Services
Supervisor
1.00
Lead Account
Clerk
1.00
Account Clerk II
1.00
Food Service
Truck Driver
2.00
Kitchen Manager
3.00
Assistant Director,
Child Nutrition
1.00
Clerk II
0.75
School/Staff
Secretary IV
1.00
Cafeteria Manager I
0.875
Delivery Driver
4.00
Assistant Director,
Food Services
1.00
Department
Secretary
1.00
Food Safety &
Program Support
Clerk
1.00
Warehouse
Worker
1.00
Supervisor, Food
Services
2.00
Account Tech III
1.00
Secretary IV
1.00
Supervisor, Food
Services
1.00 (Vacant)
2.00
Team Lead
(Central Kitchen)
1.00
Food Service
Assistant II
2.50
Food Services
Driver
1.75
Total FTEs: 9.00
Total FTEs: 8.625
Total FTEs: 5.00
Total FTEs: 5.00
Total FTEs: 9.25
Secretary
1.00
Food Services
Operations
Manager
1.00
Food Services
Delivery Driver
1.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
The District has the largest staff in the Food Services Department at 9.25 FTEs, including a
Supervisor of Food Services (1.00 FTE) position that is currently vacant. All comparative
districts have a director position assigned to oversee the respective food services departments.
Two districts, Ceres USD and El Rancho USD, have assistant directors employed to oversee the
department. The other four districts, including Natomas USD, have a supervisory position to
support the director. At Natomas USD, the Supervisor of Food Services position is currently
vacant. All of the comparative districts have administrative support, ranging from 2.00 FTEs to
1.00 FTEs.
Natomas USD has a part-time Custodian, 0.625 FTE, who reports to the Director of Food
Services and supports the Food Services Department. This position was not included in the
comparative chart because none of the comparative districts provided information on custodial
support for the respective Food Services Departments.
79
FACILITIES, PLANNING, AND TRANSPORTATION DIVISION (INCLUDING MAINTENANCE)
Figure 14: Facilities, Planning, and Transportation
Total
Dept.
FTEs:
Admin.
Title:
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
Filled FTEs:
16.16
Vacant FTEs:
3.00
Total FTEs:
19.16
Filled FTEs:
21.409
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
21.409
El Rancho
USD
Filled FTEs: 5.00
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 5.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Filled FTEs: 34.1563
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 34.1563
Filled FTEs:
33.02125
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
33.02125
Executive Director,
Facilities,
Planning, &
Transportation
1.00
Filled FTEs:
27.97
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
27.97
Assistant
Superintendent,
Facilities and
Operations
1.00
Administrative
Assistant
1.00
Administrative
Assistant III
1.00
Executive Director,
Facilities/
Maintenance/
Operations/
Transportation
1.00
MOT Secretary IV
1.00
MOT Account Tech.
III
1.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
The District’s Facilities, Planning, and Transportation Division, including Maintenance, has
34.02125 FTEs, the second largest staff of the comparative group. Lucia Mar USD has a slightly
larger staff at 34.1563 FTEs. Lucia Mar USD and Natomas USD both have Executive Director
positions, which oversee these areas and report to the respective Superintendents. Rocklin USD
employs an Assistant Superintendent to oversee the division and who reports to the
Superintendent. Ceres USD employs a Director and Assistant Director of Maintenance and
Operations who report to the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services. El Rancho USD has
a Director of Maintenance and Operations who reports to the Assistant Superintendent of
Business Services. Rocklin USD has a Director of Facilities and Maintenance who reports to the
Assistant Superintendent of Facilities and Operations.
In terms of clerical and technical support staff (including administrative assistants, secretaries,
technicians, and clerks) for Facilities, Planning, Maintenance, and Operations, each district has
the following: Azusa USD—3.00 FTEs, Ceres USD—1.50 FTEs, El Rancho USD—2.00 FTEs,
Lucia Mar USD—3.00 FTEs, Natomas USD—2.75 FTEs, and Rocklin USD—2.00 FTEs. Lucia
Mar USD and has the greatest amount of clerical and technical support staff in the comparison
80
group. Clerical and technical staff for the Facilities, Planning, Maintenance, and Operations
departments were grouped together because there is a significant amount of overlap of positions
and duties within these areas for the comparison group.
Figure 15: Facilities, Planning, and Transportation—Administrator Direct Oversight Areas
Admin. Title
Azusa
USD
Director, MOT
(Reports to
Assistant Supt.,
Business
Services)
Director, M&O
Secretary II
Director, M&O
Assistant Director,
M &O
General Office
Clerk (2.00, 1.00
vacant)
Transportation
Supervisor
Oversight Area
Ceres
USD
Maintenance
Supervisor
Operations
Supervisor
Director,
Transportation
(Both report to
Assistant Supt.,
Business Services)
Clerk II
0.50
School/Staff
Secretary IV
Total FTEs: 2.50
Director,
Transportation
Drivers & Other
Transportation
personnel
(16.909 FTEs)
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Director, M&O
(Reports to
Assistant Supt.,
Business Services)
Executive Director,
Facilities/
MOT
(Reports to Assistant
Supt., Business
Services)
Executive Director,
Facilities,
Planning, &
Transportation
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Assistant
Superintendent,
F&O
(Reports to
Superintendent)
Custodial
Supervisor
MOT Secretary IV
Administrative
Assistant
Administrative
Assistant III
Administrative
Secretary
Accountant
Department
Secretary
MOT Account Tech
III
Clerk Typist II
Sustainability
Coordinator
Grounds
Maintenance
Leader
Facilities/
Construction
Secretary
Groundsworkers
(10.00)
Maintenance
Worker (3.00)
Total FTEs: 16.909
Supervisor
Custodial &
Grounds
Director,
Transportation
Program Manager
Director, F &O
Energy
Specialist
Energy Manager
Director,
Transportation
Custodial
Supervisor
Director,
Technology
Supervisor
Maintenance
Maintenance
Workers (10.00)
Transportation
Coordinator
Grounds Team
Leader
Groundsworkers
(7.00)
Driver/Bus Pass
Technician
Total
Direct
Report
FTEs
Total FTEs: 6.00
Director, M&O
Total FTEs: 2.50
Director,
Transportation
Total FTEs: 16.909
Total FTEs: 17.00
Total FTEs: 7.00
Total FTE: 24.00
Total FTE: 6.00
81
Figure 15 shows the administrative oversight related to Facilities and Planning, Maintenance,
Operations, and Transportation. Rocklin USD is the only district to have an Assistant
Superintendent overseeing this area; the rest of the comparative districts employ an Executive
Director or Director. All of the comparative districts with an Executive Director or Director
position, except Natomas USD, have been organized so that the position reports to the Assistant
Superintendent of Business Services. The Executive Director at Natomas USD reports directly to
the Superintendent. This position at the District also has the largest span of control and greatest
number of direct reporting positions at 24.00 FTEs (25 direct reports when the stipend Energy
Manager position is included) when compared to the comparative group administrators. The
Executive Director is directly supervising both the grounds crew and the maintenance crew for a
total of 17.00 FTEs. Most of the other comparative districts have supervisory positions, which
report to the division administrators, and oversee the work crews. By all accounts, 25 direct
reports far exceeds all industry standards, and could significantly impact the Executive
Director’s ability to effectively supervise the staff and to oversee and manage the division in its
entirety.
Figure 16: Facilities, Planning, and Transportation—Facilities and Planning
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Facilities and
Planning
Ceres
USD
Sustainability
Coordinator
1.00
Facilities/
Construction
Secretary
1.00
(Both positions report
to the Executive
Director)
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Azusa
USD
Total FTEs: 2.00
Natomas
USD
Project Manager
1.00
Energy Manager
Stipend
Total FTEs: 1.00
(Both positions
report to the
Executive Director)
Total FTEs: 1.00
Rocklin
USD
Energy
Education
Specialist
1.00
Total FTE: 1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Most districts do not employ a significant number of facilities and planning staff, as the
customary practice is to contract for specialized work, such as an architect, unless the district has
a high need, such as a new school district or extensive modernization, as shown in Figure 16. As
a result, the comparative districts reported limited staff in this area. Three districts, including
Natomas USD, employ a Energy Manager-type position to ensure that the district are effectively
and efficiently using energy and sustainable practices to meet federal and state requirements, and
to identify cost savings for the districts. In many cases, these positions can be funded from the
identified cost-savings alone, as appears to be the case in Natomas USD. At Natomas USD, this
position is not a full-time District employee, rather it is a stipend position and the District was
unable to provide a commensurate FTE. Natomas USD also has a Program Manager who
82
oversees facility modernization and construction projects, though the District is currently unable
to undergo any new construction because of a building moratorium in the Natomas basin area,
which will likely be in place for the next few years.
Figure 17: Facilities, Planning, and Transportation—Maintenance, Operations, and Grounds
Azusa
USD
Director,
Maintenance
Operations,
Transportation
1.00
Ceres
USD
Director,
Maintenance &
Operations
1.00
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Director,
Maintenance &
Operations
1.00
Rocklin
USD
Director,
Facilities &
Maintenance
1.00
Maintenance, Operations, & Grounds
Assistant
Director,
Maintenance &
Operations
1.00
Maintenance
Supervisor
1.00
Operations
Supervisor
1.00
Operations
Manager
1.00 (Vacant)
Secretary II
1.00
General Office
Clerk
2.00 (1.00 FTE
Vacant)
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Total FTEs: 7.00
Custodial
Supervisor
1.00
Clerk II
0.50
School/Staff
Secretary IV
1.00
Total FTEs: 3.50
Department
Secretary
1.00
Clerk Typist II
1.00
Grounds
Maintenance
Leader
1.00
Total FTEs: 5.00
Supervisor,
Maintenance
1.00
Supervisor,
Custodial & Grounds
1.00
Custodial
Supervisor
1.00
1.00
Admin. Secretary
(Shared w/
Transportation)
0.75
Grounds Team
Lead
1.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 3.75
Custodial
Supervisor
1.00
Grounds
Supervisor
1.00
Dept. Secretary
1.00
Accountant
1.00
Delivery Driver
(12 mos.)
1.00
Total FTEs: 6.00
In the Maintenance, Operations, and Grounds department, Azusa USD has the largest staff at
7.00 FTEs. The District has a Maintenance Supervisor to oversee all maintenance workers, and
an Operations Supervisor who oversees all district operations staff and the department’s
operations. Azusa USD currently has two vacant positions: Operations Manager (1.00 FTE) and
General Office Clerk (1.00 FTE). El Rancho USD utilizes a Custodial Supervisor position to
oversee all custodial staff. Lucia Mar USD has two supervisors, one for maintenance, and one for
custodial and grounds, to oversee the respective staff. Natomas USD employs a Custodial
83
Supervisor who oversees the custodial operations and staff. All grounds and maintenance staff
report to the Executive Director of Facilities, Planning, and Transportation. Lastly, Rocklin USD
has a Director of Facilities and Maintenance, in addition to the Assistant Superintendent of
Facilities and Operations, and two supervisors—one for custodial operations and one for
grounds.
A general comparative of custodial, grounds, and maintenance staff is provided in the following
three tables. It should be emphasized that these comparisons are general in nature, based upon
enrollment—not the number of sites or square footage being maintained by the staff. A more
detailed study of each district’s staffing level could be conducted, which could include other
factors and time studies.
Figure 18: Custodial Staffing (including Team Leaders)
Number of Sites
Total Custodial
Staff FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Azusa
USD
18
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
13
Lucia Mar
USD
17
Natomas
USD2,3
16
Rocklin
USD1
16
39.00
38.00
49.59
38.9608
48.00
10,111
9,588
10,519
10,691
10,768
259:1
252:1
212:1
274:1
224:1
Note: 2011-12 enrollment includes only those sites serviced by district staff as reported by the district.
2 Natomas USD did not provide 2011-12 enrollment data. Used 2010-11 CBEDS enrollment data, including three of the five
charter schools.
3 Number of school sites includes three of the five charter schools and two district office buildings.
Figure 18 provides the custodial staffing for sites. Natomas USD employs 38.9608 FTEs. On an
enrollment to custodian ratio basis, at 274:1 Natomas USD has fewer custodians than all of the
comparative districts.
84
Figure 19: Grounds Staffing (including Team Leaders)
Number of Sites
Total Grounds
Staff FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Azusa
USD
18
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
131
Lucia Mar
USD
17
Natomas
USD2,3
16
Rocklin
USD2
16
10.00
11.00
7.00
8.00
14.00
10,111
9,588
10,519
10,691
10,768
1,011:1
872:1
1,503:1
1,336:1
769:1
1 El Rancho USD has 1.00 FTE groundsworker located at the high school site.
charter schools.
Figure 19 shows that Natomas USD has 8.00 FTEs of grounds staffing, including a team leader.
On an enrollment ratio basis, the District has fewer grounds staff than one district, Lucia Mar
USD, with 1,503:1. Azusa USD and Rocklin USD employ more grounds staff per enrolled
student.
85
Figure 20: Maintenance Staffing (including Team Leaders)
Number of Sites
Total
Maintenance
Staff FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Azusa
USD
18
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
See footnote
Lucia Mar
USD
17
Natomas
USD3,4
16
Rocklin
USD1
16
16.00
3.002
11.00
10.00
6.00
10,111
N/A
10,519
10,691
10,768
632:1
N/A
956:1
1,069:1
1,795:1
2 El Rancho USD employs 1.00 FTE maintenance worker and 1.00 FTE plant manager at high school site.
charter schools.
When analyzing the number of maintenance staff employed by the comparative districts, two
districts, Azusa USD and El Rancho USD, have a richer staffing ratio than Natomas USD,
indicating that Natomas USD has less maintenance staff per enrolled student than most of the
other comparative districts. The grounds staff at Natomas USD also maintains two large vacant
parcels owned by the District.
86
Figure 21: Facilities, Planning, and Transportation—Transportation
Azusa USD
Ceres USD
El Rancho USD
Lucia Mar USD
Natomas USD
Rocklin USD
(only provides
transportation
for students
moved to other
schools due to
overcrowding)
(provides hometo-school
transportation for
students outside
established
walking zones)
(see below)
(provides home-toschool
transportation)
(provides home-toschool
transportation for
one school,
special education,
charter, and other
contracts)
Director,
Transportation
1.00
Transportation
Supervisor
1.00
Administrative
Secretary (Shared
with Facilities and
Planning and
Maintenance)
0.25
Lead Mechanic
1.00
Mechanic
1.00
Driver/Bus
Maintenance
1.00
Driver/Dispatcher
1.00
Driver/Field Trip
Coordinator
1.00
Driver/Bus Pass
Technician
1.00
Bus Driver
18.02125
(provides hometo-school and
special
education
transportation)
Transportation
Supervisor
1.00 (Vacant)
Lead Mechanic
1.00
Transportation
Bus Driver
10.16
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Total FTEs:
12.16
Director,
Transportation
1.00
Bus Driver
Trainer
1.00
Maintenance
Worker I
0.628
Mechanic
3.00
Mechanic Helper
1.00
Relief Bus
Operator
0.50
School/Staff
Secretary IV
1.00
Transportation
Dispatcher
1.00
Bus Operator
8.781
Total FTEs:
17.909
District eliminated
home-to-school
transportation in
2010-11 and
contracts out for
special education
transportation
Transportation
Coordinator
1.00
Secretary I
0.50
Dispatcher
1.00
Bus Driver/Trainer
1.00
Bus Driver/Utility
1.00
Bus Driver
19.6563
Mechanic
3.00
Total FTEs:
27.1563
Total FTEs:
26.27125
Director,
Transportation
1.00
Transportation
Supervisor/
Trainer
1.00
Clerk,
Transportation
1.00
Transportation
Routing
Tech./Utility
Driver
1.00
Senior Mechanic
1.00
Mechanic
Assistant/Driver
1.00
Utility Driver
1.02
Bus Driver
11.95
Total FTEs:
18.97
Figure 21 provides the comparative data for the districts’ respective Transportation departments.
Three of the districts, Ceres USD, Natomas USD, and Rocklin USD, employ a Director of
Transportation. Azusa USD previously had a Transportation Supervisor position, but it is
87
currently vacant. Lucia Mar USD employs a Transportation Coordinator to oversee the
department. Due to budget challenges, El Rancho USD no longer operates a Transportation
department; home-to-school transportation was eliminated and the District currently contracts
out for special education student transportation. Two districts, Natomas USD and Rocklin USD,
also employ a Transportation Supervisor in addition to a Director of Transportation. In both
districts, a large portion of this position’s duties is to provide bus driver training. In Natomas
USD, the Transportation Supervisor has been unable to provide the level of training desired
because the position also serves as a back-up driver. Due to the large number of absences of bus
drivers, furlough days, and a limited substitute bus driver pool, the majority of back-up drivers
(also including the Director of Transportation and Dispatcher) must drive routes each day.
Transportation departments can be more challenging to compare because district transportation
programs vary greatly from one district to the next (the individual programs offered by each of
the comparative districts are provided in Figure 21).
In looking at the total FTEs alone, Lucia Mar USD has the greatest number of staff at
27.1563 FTEs. Natomas USD has the second largest staff at 26.27125 FTEs. Natomas USD
provides extensive transportation services to special education students in addition to contracting
with the District’s charter schools and other school districts in the area, but does not provide
regular home-to-school transportation with the exception of transporting students from a
currently closed school to another middle school campus for this year only. A detailed
transportation study, including a review of bus routes, staffing, boundaries,
contracts/memorandums of understanding, and pricing structure, would be required to determine
if Natomas USD’s Transportation department is operating in the most efficient manner.
For clerical support of the department, Natomas USD has approximately 0.25 FTE support from
an Administrative Secretary who also works 0.75 FTE in the Maintenance, Operations, and
Facilities department.
88
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES DIVISION
Figure 22: Educational Services
Total
Dept.
FTEs:
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
Filled FTEs: 39.64
Vacant FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 41.64
Filled FTEs:
25.469
Vacant FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 27.469
Filled FTEs: 35.00
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 35.00
Filled FTEs: 30.125
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs: 30.125
Filled FTEs: 32.25
Vacant FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 33.25
Assistant
Superintendent,
Educational
Services/Student
Achievement
1.00
Secretary
1.00
Deputy
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
1.00
(Oversees C&I)
Assistant
Superintendent,
Student Support
Services
1.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
1.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Curriculum
1.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
1.00
Filled
FTEs:25.46875
Vacant FTEs: 0.00
Total FTEs:
25.46875
Deputy
Superintendent,
Educational
Services
1.00
Administrative
Secretary I/
Confidential
1.00
Administrative
Secretary/
Assessment
1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Secretary II
1.00
Secretary III
1.00
Secretary IV
1.00
Translator/
Interpreter
1.00
TIF Grant
Coordinator
1.00
Administrative
Assistant
1.00
Administrative
Assistant III
1.00
Admin.
Title:
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Total FTEs: 2.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
El Rancho
USD
Total FTEs: 3.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Total FTEs: 7.00
Natomas
USD
Total FTEs: 2.00
Rocklin
USD
Total FTE: 2.00
Figure 22 provides the total FTEs in the Educational Services divisions of each district. At
41.64 FTEs, Azusa USD has the largest staff. Rocklin USD has the smallest staff at 25.46875.
Natomas USD has the third largest staff at 33.25 FTEs. For purposes of this comparison, the
Education Services division has been divided into the following departments to model those of
Natomas USD: Educational Programs, Special Education, Student Services, and State & Federal
Categorical Programs.
89
Each of the comparative districts has an administrator who reports to the Superintendent—either
an Assistant or Deputy Superintendent to oversee the Educational Services division of the
respective district. Ceres USD employs two administrators in this area who report to the
Superintendent: a Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services who oversees Curriculum and
Instruction, and an Assistant Superintendent of Student Support Services. El Rancho USD
employs an Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services and a Director of Student Services,
and both positions report to the Superintendent. Lucia Mar USD employs an Assistant
Superintendent of Curriculum and Director of Student Services, both of which report to the
Superintendent. Lucia Mar USD has additional staff which also report to the Assistant
Superintendent, but overall, for all of the comparative districts except Ceres USD, the
Administrator of Educational Services has at least 1.00 FTE of administrative clerical support.
The Educational Services division of a school district can be difficult to compare because each
district often organizes its staff into departments, which can be unique. Each district in the
comparative group employs School Psychologists at the staffing levels provided in Figure 23.
Figure 23: School Psychologist Staffing
District FTEs
Reporting Administrator
Azusa USD
6.20
Senior Director, Pupil Services (Educational Services )
Ceres USD
8.00
TK
El Rancho USD
10.00
Director, Student Services (Student Services)
Lucia Mar USD
7.20
Director, Student Services (Student Services)
Natomas USD
9.25
Director, Special Education (Educational Services)
Rocklin USD
8.30
Director, Special Education/Support Programs (Educational Services)
Source: District-reported data.
90
Figure 24 shows the major areas of oversight of each administrator in the Educational Programs
and Student Services areas.
Figure 24: Educational Services—Administrator Direct Oversight Areas
Azusa
USD
Area of Oversight
Admin.
Title:
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Assistant Supt.,
Educational
Services/Student
Achievement
Deputy Supt.,
Educational
Services
(Oversees C&I)
Assistant Supt.,
Student Support
Services
Assistant Supt.,
Educational
Services
Director,
Student Services
Assistant Supt.,
Curriculum
Director,
Student Services
Assistant Supt.,
Educational
Services
Deputy Supt.,
Educational
Services
Director,
Curriculum
Instruction
Assessment (K-5)
Deputy Supt.,
Educational
Services
Director,
Student Services
Assistant Supt.,
Curriculum
Director,
Educational
Programs (K-12)
Director,
Elementary
Programs
Coordinator,
Special Education
Director, ITS
Director,
Special Education
Director,
Special Education/
Support Programs
Director,
Curriculum
Instruction
Assessment
(6-12)
Director, Adult &
Continuing
Education
Director,
Categorical
Programs/
Instructional
Support
Director,
Curriculum and
Instruction
Assistant Supt.,
Student Support
Services (SSS)
Director,
Student Support
Services/Special
Education
Director, ROP
Director,
Categorical
Programs
Director, Student
Services
Director,
Student Services
Director of State
and Federal
Categorical
Programs
Coordinator,
State & Federal
Programs
Coordinator,
Special Education
Coordinator,
Child Welfare &
Attendance
Director,
ELL Services/
Instructional
Support/Migrant
Education
91
Azusa
USD
Ceres
USD
Educational Programs
Figure 25: Educational Services—Educational Programs
Director,
Curriculum
Instruction
Assessment (K-5)
1.00
Director,
Curriculum
Instruction
Assessment
(6-12)
1.00
Director, Adult &
Continuing
Education
1.00
Secretary II
1.00
General Office
Clerk
0.44
Secretary II
1.00
Textbook
Warehouse Clerk
1.00
Assistant
Textbook
Warehouse Clerk
1.00
Program
Coordinator
1.00
TSA—GATE,
AVID, Perkins,
Community
Liaison
1.00
Director,
Curriculum and
Instruction
1.00
School/Staff
Secretary IV
2.469
Administrative
Secretary IV
1.00
Clerk II
1.00
Coordinator,
Staff Development
1.00 (Vacant)
Coordinator,
Projects and
Assessments
1.00 (Vacant)
Supervisor,
Regional Math
Grant
1.00
Program
Specialist
2.00
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Total FTEs: 9.44
Total FTEs: 10.469
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Director, ROP
1.00
Various TOSAs
Total FTE: 1.00
Natomas
USD
Director,
Educational
Programs (K-12)
1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
School Readiness
Coordinator
1.00
Office Specialist
1.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Rocklin
USD
Director,
Elementary
Programs
1.00
Administrative
Assistant II
1.00
Network
Coordinator
1.00
Coordinator,
State & Federal
Programs
1.00
Program
Specialist I, ELD
1.00
Total FTEs: 5.00
92
Figure 26: Educational Services—Special Education
Azusa
USD
Special Education
Special Education
Coordinator
1.00
TSA
Program
Specialist
1.00
Secretary I
1.00
General Office
Clerk
1.00
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Ceres
USD
Director,
Student Support
Services/Special
Education
1.00
Program
Specialist
3.00
Psychologist
8.00
El Rancho
USD
Coordinator,
Special Education
1.00
Program Specialist
1.00
Inclusion Specialist
1.00
Data Processing
Clerk
1.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Coordinator,
Special Education
1.00 (Reports to
Director of Student
Services)
Director,
Special Education
1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Coordinator,
Special Education
1.00
Program Specialist
2.00
1.00
Psychologist
9.25 FTE
Director,
Special Education/
Support Programs
1.00
Administrative
Assistant I
1.00
Educational
Services Clerk
1.00
Administrative
Assistant II
1.00
Licensed
Vocational Nurse
(LVN)
1.50
School Health
Nurse
0.20
Health Services
Supervisor
1.00
Program
Specialist II
2.00
School
Psychologists
8.30
Workability
Coordinator
1.00
Workability/Job
Dev/Coach
0.46875
Total FTE: 1.00
Total FTEs: 15.25
(Above positions
report to Student
Services)
Total FTEs: 4.00
Total FTEs: 12.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Total FTEs:
18.46875
Figure 26 shows the Special Education department staffing for the comparative group. Three
districts, Ceres USD, Natomas USD, and Rocklin USD, have a Director of Special Education.
The remaining three districts employ a Coordinator of Special Education.
93
Figure 27: Educational Services—Student Services
Azusa
USD
Student Services
Senior Director,
Pupil Services
1.00
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Secretary II
1.00
Psychologists
6.20
Secretary I
(support for
psychologists)
1.00
Coordinator,
Child Welfare &
Attendance
1.00
Secretary I
1.00
Records
Technician
1.00
General Office
Clerk
1.00
Coordinator,
SEARCH/
Counseling
Services
1.00
Outreach
Consultant
1.00
Nurse
2.00 (1.00 vacant)
Secretary
1.00 (vacant)
Total FTEs: 18.20
Ceres
USD
Assistant
Superintendent,
Student Support
Services
Coordinator,
Child Welfare and
Attendance
1.00
Grants/
Communications
Specialist
1.00
Nurse
1.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
El Rancho
USD
Lucia Mar
USD
Natomas
USD
Director,
Student Services
1.00
Director,
Student Services
1.00 (Reports to
Superintendent)
Director,
Student Services
1.00
Administrative
Secretary-Student
Services
1.00
Department
Secretary
3.00
Psychologist
10.00
Coordinator,
Child Welfare and
Attendance
1.00
Records Clerk
1.00
Mental Health
Liaison
1.00
Mental Health
Counselor
1.00
Evidence Based
Program Facilitator
1.00
Supervisor,
Clerical Services
1.00
Receptionist
1.00
Secretary II
1.00
Secretary III
1.00
Cal SAFE
0.80
Psychologists
7.20
Families in
Transition Support
Coordinator
0.375
Secretary IV
(Student Welfare &
Attendance)
1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Homeless
Liaison/Foster
Youth
1.00
Coordinator, Safe
Routes to School
(Grant)
1.00 (Vacant)
School Nurse
3.00
District Nurse
1.00
District Nurses
2.00 SS
1.00 (LVN-SS)
1.00 (LVN-SP)
Total FTEs: 23.00
Total FTEs: 15.375
Rocklin
USD
Total FTEs: 8.00
94
Figure 28: Educational Services—State & Federal Categorical Programs
State & Federal Categorical Programs
Azusa
USD
Director,
Categorical
Programs/
Instructional
Support
1.00
Secretary I
1.00
Director,
ELL Services/
Instructional
Support/Migrant
Education
1.00
Secretary I
1.00
ALTO Program
Specialist/ELL
Services
1.00
Secretary I
1.00
Community
Liaison Aide
1.00
District Translator
1.00
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Total FTEs: 8.00
Ceres
USD
El Rancho
USD
Coordinator,
Categorical
Programs
1.00
Coordinator,
RTI/Teaching
American History
1.00
Categorical
Programs
Secretary
1.00
State & Federal
Programs Clerk
1.00
Data Processing
Clerk I
1.00
Total FTEs: 5.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Director,
Categorical
Programs
1.00
Bright Futures
Coordinator
1.00
Migrant Support
Tech.
1.75
Curriculum
Secretary III
1.00
Secretary III
1.00
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Director,
State & Federal
Categorical
Programs
1.00
Administrative
Secretary
1.00
Interpreter/
Translator-Spanish
1.00
English Learner
Program
Technician
1.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Total FTEs: 5.75
Total FTEs: 4.00
95
HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION
Figure 29: Human Resources
Azusa
USD
Total
Dept.
FTEs:
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Admin.
Title:
Filled FTEs:
10.50
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
10.50
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human
Resources
1.00
Ceres
USD
Filled FTEs:
8.00
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
8.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Personnel
Services
1.00
El Rancho
USD
Filled FTEs:
6.00
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
6.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human Resources
1.00
Secretary
1.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Filled FTEs:
7.00
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
7.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human Resources
1.00
Administrative
Assistant
1.00
Human Resources
Secretary/
Receptionist
1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 1.00
Total FTEs: 3.00
Natomas
USD
Filled FTEs:
7.00
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
7.00
Director, Human
Resources
1.00
Administrative
Assistant
1.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Rocklin
USD
Filled FTEs:
6.00
Vacant FTEs:
0.00
Total FTEs:
6.00
Assistant
Superintendent,
Human
Resources
1.00
Administrative
Assistant III
1.00
Total FTEs: 2.00
Figure 29 shows the administration assigned to the Human Resources, or Personnel divisions, of
the comparative districts. All of the comparative districts employ an Assistant Superintendent of
Human Resources except Natomas USD, which employs a Director of Human Resources. Four
of the districts, including Natomas USD, provide administrative clerical support to the
administrator. In the comparative group, Human Resources staffing ranges from 10.50 FTEs in
Azusa USD to 6.00 FTEs in Rocklin USD. Natomas USD employs 7.00 FTEs, a smaller staff
than two of the comparison districts.
96
Figure 30: Human Resources—Department Staff
Human Resources (HR)
Azusa
USD
Director, Human
Resources
1.00
Personnel Clerk I
1.00
General Office
Clerk
0.75
Personnel Tech.
1.00
PBX Operator/
Receptionist
1.00
(Positions below
report to Assistant
Superintendent,
Human
Resources)
Personnel Tech
1.00
Personnel Clerk I
1.00
Program
Specialist
(Teacher
Support &
Development)
1.00
SPA General
Office Clerk I
0.75
Total
Dept.
FTEs
Total FTEs: 8.50
Ceres
USD
Director,
Personnel
1.00
Administrative
Secretary IV
1.00
Credential
Analyst
1.00
Personnel
Technician
4.00
Total FTEs: 7.00
El Rancho
USD
Personnel
AssistantConfidential
1.00
Credential AnalystConfidential
1.00
Personnel
Secretary
3.00
Total FTEs: 5.00
Lucia Mar
USD
Human Resources
TechnicianConfidential
(Classified)
1.00
Human Resources
(Health Benefits)
1.00
Human Resources
(Worker’s Comp.)
1.00
Human Resources
Clerk
(Substitutes)
1.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
Natomas
USD
Rocklin
USD
Coordinator,
Human Resources
1.00
Human Resources
Technician II
(Subs, Coaches,
Volunteers)
1.00
Human Resources
Technician II
(Certificated)
1.00
Human Resources
Technician II
(Classified)
1.00
District
Receptionist
1.00
Certificated
Personnel
Analyst
1.00
Classified
Personnel
Analyst
1.00
Substitute
Services Clerk
1.00
Human
Resources Clerk
1.00
Total FTEs: 5.00
Total FTEs: 4.00
The Human Resources department staff FTEs are provided in Figure 30, ranging from 8.50 FTEs
in Azusa USD to 4.00 FTEs in Lucia Mar USD and Rocklin USD. Azusa USD and Ceres USD
also employ a Director of Human Resources, and as identified in Figure 27, the majority of
Human Resources staff members report to this position, with the exception of 3.75 FTEs in
Azusa USD that report to the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. Natomas USD
employs a Coordinator of Human Resources, who reports to the Director. All of the District’s
Human Resources staff, with the exception of the Administrative Assistant, report to the
97
Coordinator. The District has fewer total FTEs in Human Resources than two of the comparative
districts.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS
The organizational charts for the comparison districts are included in Appendix C through
Appendix H for the purposes of evaluating reporting functions and division allocations.
School Site Staffing Comparison
The comparative data survey also included a review of the site staffing levels for administrators,
administrative support, counselors, and health aides. The following comparisons are made based
on the district-reported FTE ratio to student enrollment taken from district-reported current-year
enrollment. (Note that the 2011-12 enrollment may differ significantly from the 2010-11
state-certified ADA because of the difference in reporting timeline and included data. This
comparison requires the use of the enrollment data to examine by site type [i.e., elementary,
etc.].)
SITE ADMINISTRATOR STAFFING
Figure 31 examines the staffing of Principal FTEs to elementary school sites. For elementary
schools, there is typically one Principal per school site, as demonstrated in the following table.
The enrollment ratio shows that Natomas USD has larger student populations at its school sites
than the other comparative districts, resulting in a higher ratio of enrolled students to the
Principal. The District may want to review staffing levels to determine if additional
administrators are needed at the elementary school sites to increase support.
Number of Sites
Total Principal
FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Figure 31: 2011-12 Elementary School-Site Principal FTEs
Staffing Ratio to Number of School Sites
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
11
8
11
7
Rocklin
USD1
11
11.00
8.00
11.00
7.00
11.00
4,714
4,223
5,396
4,758
5,502
429:1
528:1
491:1
680:1
500:1
98
Figure 32 displays the staffing of Principals and Assistant/Vice Principals FTEs to middle
school/junior high school sites. The District has the lowest number of middle school/junior high
administrators as compared to the group at 496 students for every one administrator. Lucia Mar
USD has the most administrators to student enrollment at 285:1.
The comparative districts have one principal for each school site and have the following
Assistant or Vice Principal staffing: Azusa USD—3.00 FTEs (three sites), El Rancho USD—
3.00 FTEs (three sites), Lucia Mar USD—3.00 FTEs (three sites), Natomas USD—1.60 FTEs
(two sites), and Rocklin USD—2.00 FTEs (two sites).
Figure 32: 2011-12 Middle School/Junior High School Site Administrator FTEs
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
3
3
3
2
Sites
Total Principal/
6.00
6.00
6.00
3.60
Vice Principal
FTEs
2011-12
2,327
2,224
1,710
1,785
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
388:1
371:1
285:1
496:1
Rocklin
USD1
2
4.00
1,711
428:1
Figure 33 provides the staffing of Principal and Assistant/Vice Principal FTEs for high school
sites. The District has the third smallest staff at 348:1, while Rocklin USD has the most
administrators per student enrollment at 244:1. While this ratio is somewhat tied to the number
of school sites of each district, it does help to demonstrate the workload of the site
administrators—a higher ratio of student enrollment to administrator means that the
administrators are overseeing a larger student population.
The comparative districts have one principal for each school site and have the following
Assistant or Vice Principal staffing: Azusa USD—6.00 FTEs (two sites), El Rancho USD—
5.00 FTEs (3.00 FTEs Vice Principal and 2.00 FTEs Dean) (one site), Lucia Mar USD—4.00
FTEs (two sites), Natomas USD—6.00 FTEs (two sites, including one School Site Services
Coordinator that has replaced an Assistant Principal position at Natomas High School), and
Rocklin USD—5.00 FTEs (two sites).
99
Figure 33: 2011-12 Traditional High School-Site Administrator FTEs
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total Principal/
Vice Principal
FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
2
1
2
2
2
8.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
7.00
2,774
2,890
3,276
2,782
1,711
347:1
482:1
468:1
348:1
244:1
Figure 34 provides the staffing of Principal and Assistant/Vice Principal FTEs to continuation
high school sites. The District has the third smallest staff at 145:1, while Rocklin USD has the
most administrators per student enrollment at 120:1. As previously discussed, while this ratio is
tied to the number of continuation high school sites at each district, it does help to demonstrate
the workload of the site administrators—a higher ratio of student enrollment to administrator
means that the administrators are overseeing a larger student population.
Figure 34: 2011-12 Continuation High School-Site Administrator FTEs
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total Principal/
Vice Principal
FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
1
1
1
1
1
2.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
296
251
137
145
120
148:1
251:1
137:1
145:1
120:1
100
As mentioned previously in the report, we are also providing the most current statewide-certified
data related to staffing ratios. According to 2009-10 state-certified data, the District had the
richest ratio of school-level administrators per student enrollment, as shown in Figure 35. This
means that at that time—in 2009-10—the District had the greatest number of school-level
administrators relative to enrollment as compared to the other districts in the comparison group.
Figure 35: School Enrollment per School-Level Administrator 2009-101
District
2009-10
362.04
1
Natomas USD
389.37
2
Azusa USD
403.44
3
Rocklin USD
414.09
4
Lucia Mar USD
427.96
Comparative Group Average
440.73
5
El Rancho USD
480.73
6
Ceres USD
816.38
1 2009 CBEDS data submission experienced difficulties due to the delayed launch of CALPADs. Due to the
delay, some data files used in this section of the report are incomplete or unavailable. Alternative data sources
and/or calculations were used where available. As a result, some inconsistencies may appear when reviewing
historical information.
101
SITE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE SUPPORT
Figure 36 examines the staffing of site administrative office support FTEs to elementary site
enrollment. The District has the smallest number of administrative office support staff
as compared to student enrollment at 340 enrolled students to one office support staff.
El Rancho USD has the richest staffing ratio at 201:1, indicating that this district has the greatest
number of site administrative office support FTEs.
Figure 36: 2011-12 Elementary Site Administrative Office Support FTEs Staffing Ratio to
Number of School Sites (excluding Technology Site Support and Health Aides)
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
Rocklin
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD1
Number of
11
8
11
7
11
Sites
18.94
21.00
21.375
14.00
20.8275
(7.94
(12.00 Clerk
(20.00
(Secretary)
(11.00
Total Admin.
School
Typist, 9.00 Secretary,
Principal
Office Support
Clerk,
School
1.375
Secretary,
FTEs
11.00
Secretary)
School
9.8275
School
Readiness
School
Secretary)
Advocate)
Clerk)
2011-12
4,714
4,223
5,396
4,758
5,502
Enrollment
249:1
201:1
252:1
340:1
264:1
Staffing Ratio
102
Figure 37 examines the staffing of administrative office support FTEs to middle school/junior
high site enrollment. The District has the smallest number of administrative office support staff
as compared to student enrollment at 464 enrolled students to one office support staff.
Rocklin USD has the richest staffing ratio at 186:1, indicating that the district has more staff per
enrolled student.
Figure 37: 2011-12 Middle School/Junior High School Site Administrative Office Support FTEs
Staffing Ratio to Number of School Sites (excluding Technology Site Support)
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
Rocklin
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD1
Number of
3
3
3
2
2
Sites
Total Admin.
11.01
10.00
6.00
6.00
9.21875
Office Support
(5.00
(5.01
(4.00 Clerk (Secretary)
(2.00
Secretary
FTEs
School
Typist, 5.00
Attendance
1.00
Clerk, 3.00
School
Clerk, 2.75
Attendance Counseling
School
Secretary,
Tech)
1.00 Data
Secretary,
Secretary,
3.00
Processing
2.00
Clerk)
Student
Principal
Body Clerk)
Secretary,
2.46875
School
Clerk)
2011-12
2,327
2,224
1,710
2,782
1,711
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
211:1
222:1
285:1
464:1
186:1
103
Figure 38 examines the staffing of administrative office support FTEs to traditional high school
site enrollment. The District has the second smallest number of administrative office support
staff as compared to student enrollment, at 214 enrolled students to one office support staff.
Staffing ranges from the smallest staff at El Rancho USD at 223:1 to Azusa USD with the
greatest number of staff per enrolled student at 111:1 in the comparative group.
Figure 38: 2011-12 Traditional High School Site Administrative Office Support FTEs Staffing Ratio
to Number of School Sites (excluding Technology Site Support)
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
Rocklin
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD1
Number of
2
1
2
2
2
Sites
25.00
26.125
13.00
16.5625
13.00
(2.00
(2.00 ASB
(1.00 Admin
(2.00
(4.00
Attendance
Clerk, 2.00
Secretary,
Activities
Attendance
Tech,
Career
Clerk, 2.00
8.00 Clerk
Account
Center
Career
Typist, 1.00 Tech, 3.75 1.00 Bookkeeper,
Tech, 2.00
Technician,
Records
Attendance
2.00
Data Entry
Clerk, 3.00
Tech, 8.00
2.00
Registrar,
Clerk,
Secretary)
Secretary,
Counseling
7.00
2.00
Secretary,
0.8125
Secretary,
Principal
4.4375
Sign
1.00 Career
Secretary,
Discipline
Language
Technician)
Total Admin.
11.00
Tech, 2.00
Interpreter,
Office Support
School
2.00
Principal
FTEs
Clerk, 6.00
Student
Secretary,
School
Records
2.00
Secretary)
Registrar,
Specialist)
2.00 School
Bookkeeper,
3.6875
School
Clerk, 4.00
Asst.
Principal
Secretary)
2011-12
2,774
2,890
3,276
2,782
3,435
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
111:1
223:1
198:1
214:1
132:1
104
Figure 39 examines the staffing of administrative office support FTEs to continuation high
school site enrollment. The District has the second largest number of administrative office
support staff as compared to student enrollment at 83 enrolled students to one office support
staff. Azusa USD has the greatest number of staff per enrolled student, at 60:1, in the
comparative group. When looking at the 2011-12 student enrollment for the continuation high
school at Natomas USD, the enrollment seems to be proportionately lower than that at the other
comparative districts. The District should continue to examine opportunities to increase
enrollment at the continuation high school to maximize educational opportunities for students
and financial resources.
Figure 39: 2011-12 Continuation High School Site Administrative Office Support FTEs Staffing
Ratio to Number of School Sites (excluding Technology Site Support)
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
Rocklin
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD1
Number of
1
1
1
1
1
Sites
2.44
2.00
1.00
1.75
2.00
(1.44
(1.00 Clerk (Secretary)
(0.75
(1.00
Total Admin
School
Typist, 1.00
Office
Attendance
Office Support
Clerk,
1.00
Secretary)
Specialist,
Clerk, 1.00
FTEs
School
1.00
Principal
Secretary)
Secretary) Secretary)
2011-12
296
251
137
145
120
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
121:1
126:1
137:1
83:1
60:1
105
COUNSELOR STAFFING
The following four tables show the total number of counselors at school sites, as well as the ratio
of enrolled students to a counselor. Over the past few years, many districts have had to reduce
the number of counselors because of reductions to state education funding.
Figure 40 provides the number of counselors at elementary school sites. It is no longer typical for
a district to provide counselors designated only at elementary sites; and as a result, only one of
the comparative districts, Lucia Mar USD, provides one counselor dedicated to its elementary
schools.
Figure 40: 2011-12 Elementary Site
Counselor FTEs Staffing Ratio to Number of School Sites
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total
Counselor
FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
11
8
11
7
11
0.00
0
1.00
0.00
0.00
4,714
4,223
5,396
4,758
5,502
N/A
N/A
5,396:1
N/A
570:1
106
Many districts still provide counselors at the middle school/junior high school sites. Each of the
comparative districts, excluding Natomas USD, employs guidance counselors, as shown in
Figure 41. El Rancho USD employs the most guidance counselors on an enrolled student basis
at 556:1.
Figure 41: 2011-12 Middle School/Junior High School Site
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total
Counselor
FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
3
3
3
Rocklin
USD1
2
2
2.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
3.00
Guidance
Counselor
2,327
2,224
1,710
2,782
1,711
1,164:1
556:1
855:1
N/A
570:1
Figure 42 shows the number of counselors per enrolled student at traditional high school sites.
Natomas USD has the fewest counselors at a ratio of 696 enrolled students per counselor.
El Rancho USD has the richest staffing ratio at 361:1.
Figure 42: 2010-11 Traditional High School Site
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total
Counselor
FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
2
1
2
2
2
7.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
6.00
2,774
2,890
3,276
2,782
3,435
396:1
361:1
546:1
696:1
573:1
107
Figure 43 shows the number of counselors per enrolled student at continuation high school sites.
Natomas USD does not provide guidance counselors exclusively for the continuation high school
site. Three districts, Azusa USD, El Rancho USD, and Rocklin USD have counselors dedicated
to the respective continuation high school sites.
Figure 43: 2011-12 Continuation High School Site Counselor FTEs Staffing Ratio
to Number of School Sites (excluding Technology Site Support)
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
Rocklin
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD1
Number of
1
1
1
1
1
Sites
Total
2.00
1.00
1.00
0.00
0.80
Counselor
FTEs
2011-12
296
251
137
145
120
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
148:1
251:1
137:1
N/A
108
HEALTH AIDE STAFFING
The following four tables provide the site staffing for health aides. Lucia Mar USD employs
LVNs instead of health aides for the elementary or middle school/junior high school sites, and
Rocklin USD has an additional position based at the district office, Health Services Supervisor,
that is not included in the following information.
Figure 44 shows that, on a per student enrollment basis at 1,813:1, Natomas USD’s elementary
sites have fewer health aides than two districts, El Rancho USD (528:1) and Lucia Mar USD
(7,195:1). Lucia Mar USD has the fewest staffing numbers in this area with 0.75 FTEs of LVN
staff, for a ratio of 7,195:1.
Figure 44: 2011-12 Elementary Site Health Aides FTEs
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total Health
Assistant FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
11
8
11
7
11
4.18
3.00
0.75 LVN2
2.625
4.21875
4,714
4,223
5,396
4,758
5,502
1,128:1
528:1
7,195:1
1,813:1
1,304:1
2 Lucia Mar USD does not employ health clerks at the elementary level, 0.75 LVN is site based.
109
Figure 45 shows that, on a per student enrollment basis at 3,709:1, Natomas USD’s middle
school/junior high school sites have the fewest health aides of the comparative group. Lucia Mar
USD has the largest staff in this area with 0.75 FTEs of LVN staff, for a ratio of 570:1.
Figure 45: 2011-12 Middle School/Junior High Site
Health Aide FTEs Staffing Ratio to Number of School Sites
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total Health
Assistant FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
3
3
3
2
2
1.14
1.50
0.75 LVN2
0.75
0.84375
2,327
2,224
1,710
2,782
1,711
2,041:1
1,483:1
570:1
3,709:1
2,028:1
2 Lucia Mar USD does not employ health clerks at the elementary level, 0.75 LVN is site based.
Figure 46 shows that on a per student enrollment basis at 1,855:1, Natomas USD’s traditional
high school sites have the most health aides of the comparative group. Lucia Mar USD has the
smallest staff in this area with 0.75 FTEs of Health Aide staff, for a ratio of 4,368:1.
Figure 46: 2011-12 Traditional High School Site
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total Health
Assistant FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
2
1
2
2
2
0.76
1.00
0.75
1.50
0.9375
2,774
2,890
3,276
2,782
3,435
3,650:1
2890:1
4,368:1
1,855:1
3,664:1
110
Figure 47 provides the health aide staffing for continuation high school sites. Azusa USD is the
only district that currently employs dedicated health aide staff for its continuation high school.
Figure 47: 2011-12 Continuation High School Site
Azusa
Ceres
El Rancho
Lucia Mar
Natomas
USD
USD
USD
USD
USD
Number of
Sites
Total Health
Assistant FTEs
2011-12
Enrollment
Staffing Ratio
Rocklin
USD1
1
1
1
1
1
0.38
0.00
0.00
0.375
(vacant)
0.00
296
251
137
145
120
779:1
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
111
Appendix A—Current Natomas USD Organizational Charts
112
113
114
115
116
Appendix B—Proposed Natomas USD Organizational Charts
117
118
119
120
Appendix C—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts:
Superintendent’s Office and Cabinet
121
122
123
124
Appendix D—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts:
Business Services
125
126
127
128
Appendix E—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts:
129
130
131
132
Appendix F—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts:
Facilities, Planning, Maintenance, Operations, and
Transportation
133
134
Appendix G—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts:
Human Resources
135
136
137
138
Appendix H—Organizational Charts Comparative Districts:
Student Services

Natomas Unified School District

Transcription

Similar documents

108 Marina Terra

Property Overview

RETAIL SPACE FOR LEASE North Natomas Place

chantecler 16-a, las fuentes — $118,00 usd steffen features

Look Book

Borsa İstanbul Derivatives Market ( )

Notes - Interactive Brokers

Request for Bids to Host the 16th ICHA

Group 1 poster