Everybody, at some point, has complained about district hiring.  There are some oddities there, but it isn’t so bad as it once was.  Some might recall that directors got “picks” for jobs.  That hasn’t been a thing while I’ve been there.  That said, shortly after I was appointed, I had to interview candidates for coaching positions.  I am not qualified to do that.  It should’ve been HR and the Athletic Director.

So here’s how that office changes:

• Polish up the office.  This means train employees on new systems.  Make sure all documents are electronic (you’ve probably picked up on a running theme: district recordkeeping is 30 years behind the times).  Align job descriptions with required skill sets (another “duh” when I read it, but… this is Scranton).  Cross-train staff (much like the Business Office suggestion).  Hire an Assistant HR Manager if we can afford it (managing a district of this size is a massive effort and this makes sense to me).
• Implement position control.  This means that HR will be completely aware, in an easily accessible and understandable fashion, who is doing what job, what job is vacant, what jobs are possibly redundant, and on and on.  This initiative is quite specific in its details, down to how the system will look.  I’m guessing that means this would qualify as “best practices” and, as usual, Scranton hasn’t engaged in such.  The big sub-heading here is that this would make sure we are complying with the budget.  So… this tells me that it’s possible there are positions that either exist that haven’t been filled or positions that haven’t been budgeted for, which is a massive problem.
• Review employee evaluation.  There has to be a standard for employees.  There are things that have gone on in the district that should result in firings and criminal charges.  But there are slaps on the wrist.  This doesn’t happen often, but it’s happened enough that there needs to be a clear set of remediation, then consequences if there are issues.
• Fix Payroll.  Direct deposit, anybody?  Currently, we offer paper checks to those who want them.  This is unnecessary.
  • The district in-houses payroll.  That can be done for next to nothing via an automated system and the employees who handle this could be re-assigned to more pressing areas.
• Electronic Time-Keeping.  Yeah.  So we don’t keep track of when employees work.  There’s not a way to verify it.  So this will make actual hours worked and overtime more accurate.  This will save money.
• Fix Worker’s Comp.  We pay out a lot in Worker’s Comp claims.  So that means there are likely safety procedures that should be codified and followed in order to prevent injuries on the job.
• Develop exit interviews.  While it might be obvious why a teacher wants to bail on the district, we should ask employees who leave about their experience and hopefully get enough information to understand why they feel how they feel.  I’m guessing we’d get honest assessments, since people wouldn’t need to worry about their bosses.

These initiatives will simply make managing employees easier.  There isn’t mention of reforming interview processes.  I’ll bring that up when I meet with the Recovery Officer.  I don’t believe Board members should interview coaches.  I’m pretty unathletic.