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Audit
Highlights Human Resources Deficiencies at CUSD
Consultant:
Insufficient leadership, lack of regularly scheduled meetings part
of the problem
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – The
results are in on an audit of operations at Compton Unified, and some
of the findings are rather eyebrow raising.
The findings of the Human Resources Division and Personnel Commission
audit were presented to the school board last week, highlighting several
strengths and many weaknesses.
The audit is one of four separate district operations audits ordered
by new Superintendent Kay E. Burnside Ed.D. and approved by the board
in a move to ascertain areas in need of improvement. It was completed
by consultant Richard T. Werlin, a retired deputy superintendent from
the Chula Vista Elementary School District, at a cost of $6,600.
According to the review, the district should be commended for a number
of areas in which it is going above and beyond.
“When you look at a human resources division as large as this
district’s,
I want to make sure that we’re very clear that this district
is doing some incredible things,” Werlin said.
However, a high number of deficiencies exist that need to be addressed
immediately, he said.
Management and Organization
At the top of the list of deficiencies is a lack of leadership and
limited administrative resources.
“The current leadership of the Human Resources Division is insufficient
to carry out the vision and values held by Compton Unified School District,” said
Werlin.
“This lack of leadership over a long period of time has led to
a (Human Resources) Division that is bifurcated and lacks the cohesiveness
necessary
to more forward as a team,” the review reads.
Currently, only one full-time senior director leads the entire division.
The director of employee/employer relations is on leave until Aug.
1. As such, consultants and even principals have been utilized to pick
up the slack, according to the review.
This lack of leadership has fueled communication and collaboration
barriers, which are further fanned by a lack of regularly scheduled
meetings among Human Resources, the Personnel Commission and the Business
Division. Werlin said the three should be meeting at least monthly
to address critical issues in a timely manner.
Also not being handled in a timely manner are employee complaints.
“There is ample information to support the fact that the district
has failed to comply with timelines in addressing grievances on several
occasions,” the review reads.
Additionally, the division commonly utilizes the district’s legal
counsel to handle labor relations and complaint resolution when many
of those issues could be handled by the associate superintendent of
Human Resources or a designee. The current practice has led to excessive
legal fees, according to the review.
Credentials
Werlin’s audit found that, in high contrast to several years
ago, most of the district’s teachers are in compliance with No
Child Left Behind and Williams English language credential requirements.
Six or seven years ago, a majority of the district’s teachers
were on emergency credentials from the state, meaning they did not
hold the proper certification to be teaching but were allowed to due
to a shortage of teachers. Today, 91 percent of Compton Unified teachers
are properly credentialed.
School board member Marjorie Shipp noted how far the district has come
relative to that statistic.
“When I became a board member, going on eight or seven years
ago, we had… 800-plus teachers on emergency credentials,” she
said.
In 2004, legislation was enacted following the settlement of Williams
v. State of California, a statewide class action lawsuit regarding
sufficiency of instructional materials, adequacy of school site facilities
and the qualification of teachers. The legislation requires, among
other things, that teachers
in classrooms in which more than 20 percent of students are English
language learners hold a credential or receive special training to
teach English learners. Today, almost 96 percent of teachers are in
compliance with this Williams requirement.
Staff Evaluations
The district is currently out of compliance with bargained timelines
relative to employee evaluations. Probationary, or new, teachers are
required to be evaluated once per semester, while tenured teachers
are evaluated every other year. Classified employees are evaluated
annually.
Werlin found that a significant number of teacher evaluations were
not completed during the 2006-07 school year. Although some progress
was made this past school year, nine schools were found to lack timely
2007-08 second semester evaluations. Those are Centennial and Compton
highs; Bunche, Walton and Willowbrook middles; and Washington Elementary
in addition to Chavez, Tubman and Marshall schools.
Relative to classified employees, this year only 87 percent of evaluations
have been completed, the audit found. This is up from only 62 percent
being completed in 2006-07.
The audit also found that the requisite annual evaluation of the director
of the Personnel Commission to be completed by commissioners was not
completed this year or last year.
Employee Compensation
A breakdown in communication between Human Resources and the Business
Division resulted in teachers who were guaranteed sign-on bonuses not
receiving their extra pay in a timely manner, the audit found.
New math, science and special education teachers are currently offered
the bonuses as a hiring and retention incentive. All such teachers
were to receive their bonus pay within 30 days of their approved start
date. However, Werlin found that math and science teachers did not
receive the first installment of their bonus pay until January, while
special education teachers only received their first installment last
month.
Relative to salaries, the district is currently not offering teachers
and principals enough to remain competitive in regard to hiring, Werlin
said. According to information provided by the L.A. County Office of
Education, the salaries of elementary principals and intermediate and
high school assistant principals rank in the bottom quartile countywide.
Salaries for teachers faired a bit better, ranking in the lower end
of the top half countywide. Starting salaries for teachers with bachelor’s
degrees rank 14 out of 39, while those for teachers with master’s
degrees rank 15 out of 34.
Salary schedules for classified personnel were not available, Werlin
said.
The audit also notes that job descriptions for classified and certificated
positions should be updated on an annual basis. It found that the district’s
job descriptions have not been updated for at least six years.
Employment, Recruitment and Retention
Although it has steadily decreased for the past four school years,
the district continues to have a high turnover rate for both teachers
and classified employees, according to the audit. As of May, the rate
was at 10.9 percent. In 2003-04, it was 15.5 percent.
In 2007-08, a total of 40 substitutes were on long-term assignments
with Compton Unified. Of those, 14 had been in their assignment for
more than eight months. This has put the district in direct violation
with a recent court ruling that strictly prohibits subs from remaining
in positions that are vacant. Additionally, 33 employees are in provisional
assignments and 16 employees are working “out of class,” and
many of them are approaching or have exceeded a 90-day period. This,
according to Werlin, is “unacceptable.”
School board member Mae Thomas, a highly vocal union advocate, expressed
dismay over this finding.
“I don’t like seeing people working out of class and not
getting paid for it,” she said.
Werlin also found several instances in which the district has contracted
with outside organizations to complete work that could and should have
been done in-house.
Getting back to substitutes, the district was found to average roughly
150 – 200 teacher absences per day, but on average only 80 percent
of those daily vacancies are filled.
The audit also uncovered instances when sports team coaches began working
before properly cleared to do so and when district-issued checks given
to district recruiters bounced. Additionally, Werlin found that the
entire district has only three student teachers and that there are
currently 32 teacher vacancies.
Next Steps
Included in the review are recommendations on how to best rectify these
situations, many of which the district is already actively and aggressively
trying to implement, officials said.
Burnside explained that the recommendations, and the audit itself overall,
will serve as a road map for the district’s new human resources
director, whom the district is in the process of recruiting and hiring.
“The path,” she said, “is that the board would direct
the superintendent to meet with Human Resources and if, in fact, we
(staff)
have any issues and concerns about the report, we would present them
to [the board]. Otherwise… we would proceed to… lay out
a timeline in which we would actually implement the findings in this
report.
“There’s a lot here that we need to work on, and we can’t
do it all within a year,” she continued, meaning staff and the
board will need to determine what recommendations should be addressed
first.
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