Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
In relatively rapid order last week, the Jefferson County School Board approved the hiring of a human resources director, signed contracts for IT, health insurance and payroll related services, and approved a set of job descriptions and salary schedules.
The five action items, which appeared on the school board’s agenda for Monday, April 11, are part of the many steps that the district must take in preparation for the takeover of the schools on July 1.
In terms of personnel, School Superintendent Eydie Tricquet recommended the hiring of individuals for the positions of human resources director, human resources assistant and accounts clerk. No one, she said, had applied for the finance manager job. And interviews had yet to be conducted for the secretarial position, she said.
Tricquet reminded that board that the recommended positions and corresponding salaries were ones that the board had approved in January or February. The salary range for the human resources director, she said, was $80,000 to $85,000. Because the individual did not meet all the minimum requirements, however, she was recommending a starting salary of $75,000, she said.
Tricquet put the salary range for the human resources assistant and accounts clerk at nearly $45,000 annually for each, if the two were was started at the top of their ranges.
She also recommended stipulated supplements for the individual who is assisting teachers get their certification paperwork in order, and for the football coach, who will be working through the summer to get the football team in shape for the start of the fall season.
The board approved all of Tricquet’s personnel-related recommendations.
The board’s next order of business was the selection of a company to help district employees choose health benefits packages. Based on Tricquet’s recommendation, which itself was based on the recommendation of a committee of employees, the choice was HUB Public Risk, Inc., one of four companies that bid for the contract.
The reason for HUB’s selection, Tricquet said, was that it was a Tallahassee based company, that it worked with school districts, and that it had a good relationship with Capital Health Plan (CHP), the district’s preferred health insurance provider.
HUB, she said, would talk to the employees and help them enroll in the appropriate health plan. HUB also, she said, had a Medicare specialist who would help the employees decide whether to stay with Medicare or go with a health plan.
The cost to the district would be zero, Tricquet said, as HUB’s fees would be a percentage of the premiums that the employees paid for their plans.
The next contract that the board approved was for an IT company to transition the district from Somerset’s network to one of its own. EagleTree Technologies, from Franklin County, won the contract out of the two companies that submitted bids.
“Our proposal came down to two things,” Tricquet said. “One was price, and the other was which group had the most experience working with small school systems?”
EagleTree, she said, had the experience and expertise, plus it understood what the district needed doing and could accomplish it seamlessly.
The cost to the district would about $166,000, which would be paid on a monthly basis, she said.
Tricquet said the high cost was understandable, given the enormity of the task.
That was because, she said, it was unknown if the district would be able to transfer the data from Somerset’s statewide computer network to its own network; or if the district would have to build the infrastructure from scratch?
“We’re just not sure at this point how the data is going to transfer,” Tricquet said.
Next, the board approved a contract with ADP Sales Associates to set up and administer the district’s payroll system and related activities.
“They know payroll law and all the ins and outs of payroll, W2s and all those kinds of things,” Tricquet said of ADP.
Plus, she said, the company would be able to run two pay systems simultaneously, so that non-exempt employees would be paid monthly, and exempted employees would be paid twice a month.
The cost of the service, Tricquet said, would be $55,000 annually, which again would be paid in monthly installments.
Asked why the newly hired human resources director couldn’t do the payroll, Tricquet explained that by law, the person who did the hiring couldn’t also pay the salaries.
The goal, she said, was for the district eventually to hire its own payroll clerk. “But this first year, starting out, I though it would be better to hire a company,” she said.
Finally, the board approved a set of job descriptions and salary schedules that Tricquet recommended. The pay rates, she said, were identical to Franklin County’s, which she said best mirrored this district in terms of student population and budget.
“We’ve looked at a lot of their salary schedules and they are well within our budget,” Tricquet said. “We may not advertise for all these positions, but we wanted to have them ready, for if and when we decide to fill them.”
The district, meanwhile, is conducting interviews of candidates for teaching and non-instructional positions, all in preparation for start of the new school year in the fall.