REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

The following RFP was posted today by DCSS. Let's hope it's a sign that they mean to really shake things up. I am 'cautiously optimistic'.  The request begins:

The DeKalb County School District (“DCSD”) is seeking professional services from highly qualified and capable offerors having salary, position specification, and organizational restructuring experience with K-12 school districts comparable to “DCSD.” The selected offeror will review and provide an in-depth, detailed recommendation regarding an appropriate organizational structure for “DCSD.” Additionally, the selected offeror must modify, update, and develop position specifications for all positions in the restructured organization compliant with applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations, as well as policies of the DeKalb County Board of Education (“Board of Education”).

This project will be conducted in two phases. Phase 1 will focus on Central Office staff, Principals, Assistant Principals, and Instructional Coaches. Phase 2 will focus on all other DCSD positions.

The selected offeror will:
(1) Review and recommend a DCSD organizational restructure, based on national benchmarks, industry standards, and best practices of other K-12 schools districts comparable to DCSD;
(2) Review, modify, and/or create position specifications based on the recommended restructuring of DCSD; and
(3) Recommend the appropriate salary range for each position title in the restructured organization.
The selected offeror will manage all aspects of the areas listed above, including, but not limited to: job analysis; salary evaluation; position and pay classification; and preparation of requested reports. DCSD, at its sole option, may engage the selected offeror to manage the implementation of accepted findings and recommendations.

Taxpayers Need to Demand Transparency

Why are DeKalb Schools Salary Schedules not published online and accessible to all taxpayers?

Much has been written and discussed about the opacity of DeKalb Schools with respect to salary schedules and employee job functions placement on those schedules.

DeKalb Schools Human Resource Department should be publishing the salary schedules for all job categories. DCSS is the most opaque school system in metro Atlanta regarding employee salaries. DCSS has had a webpage for many years where Human Resources purports to publish salary schedules. Please note that DeKalb taxpayers can ONLY select to see the DCSS Teacher Salary Schedule.

DeKalb County Schools:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/administration/humanresources/salaryschedules.html

Now look at the other metro area school systems. Note the many salary schedules available to taxpayers online so they can compare their school system's administrative and support salaries with other metro school systems. While an Compensation Audit is necessary, taxpayers should have access to the information that the auditors have. In ALL of the other metro systems in Atlanta, detailed salary schedule information for admin and support personnel is published online for taxpayers. Click on some of the links below to compare the salary information that the other counties and cities in metro Atlanta provide taxpayers versus DeKalb Schools.

Fulton County Schools:
https://portal.fultonschools.org/departments/Human_Resources/Pages/Salary_Schedules_10_11.aspx

Forsyth County Schools:
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/129410616211729590/blank/browse.asp?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=116857

Atlanta Public Schools:
http://www.atlantapublicschools.us/204220122111936667/blank/browse.asp?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=55734&2042Nav=|&NodeID=484

Cobb County Schools:
http://www.cobbk12.org/centraloffice/hr/compensation/schedules.aspx

Gwinnett County Schools:
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/careers/careershr.nsf/010d64ffdfc63566852571dc0061d644/5d1dfad1cd332b0b852571e0006cb5c7?OpenDocument&0~Careers&6~QuickLinks

Decatur City Schools:
http://www.csdecatur.net/hr/salary-benefits

Clayton County Schools:
http://www.clayton.k12.ga.us/administration/humanrsc/TeachSalSchd.asp

Rockdale County Schools:
http://portal.rockdale.k12.ga.us/about/fs/hr/employbenefits/Pages/default.aspx

Marietta City Schools:
https://hr.marietta-city.org/getfile.asp?type=5&id=0

Human Resources has an obligation to the taxpayers of DeKalb County to publish salary schedule information for all employees. After all, taxpayers are paying the salaries of every employee in DeKalb County. This needs to be NOW - not later. Human Resources has these salary schedules. It is a simple matter of uploading them to the DCSS website.

If Ms. Tyson wants transparency, this is the place to start since she has stated salaries and benefits make up 90+% of DCSS expenditures.

It's time for that salary audit

One of the issues SACS had with DCSS was the employment practice of hiring friends and family into highly- or over-paid positions, some of which they do not possess the qualifications for. This not only usurps money and focus from the classroom, it creates a terrible morale problem among those in the trenches -  especially teachers - working to provide what DeKalb schools mission ought to be - educating children.

In 2004, Dr. Brown hired Ernst & Young to conduct a salary study to determine if people had the proper job description and in addition, according to the actual work performed, were employees being paid proper, competitive wages. The funds for the study were approved in September, 2003, according to board meeting minutes: "Authorized the firm of Ernst and Young to conduct a single salary compensation study for the DeKalb County School System at a cost of $341,000."

Soon after, Brown was fired and Lewis was hired as his replacement. The study later revealed millions of dollars of overpayments to non-teaching personnel, however Lewis dismissed the findings and buried the study. The study has never been posted or discussed by the board since. All references to the study have been removed from the board's website. Worse, a follow-up study was never conducted, although these types of studies are recommended every 4-5 years. Since our board threw out the results of the 2004 study, DCSS has basically not conducted a salary study for well over a decade, if ever.

In December, 2005 responding to a news story which reported that the Ernst and Young study results showed $14,000,000 in yearly salary overpayments, Dr. Lewis stated to the BOE that the DCSS overpayment in non-teaching salaries was $1.8 million, but he was not going to adjust them. $1.8 million overpayment of non-teaching salaries over 5 years is a $9,000,000 cost to DCSS taxpayers for no additional value in personnel performance.

The Board of Education ignored any financial benefits to DCSS by restructuring the pay scale and accepted Dr Lewis's recommendation to simply rename these employees positions by giving them different titles.

The missing 2004 study was discussed on our blog in this post, entitled, How Much Have Non-Teaching Salary Overpayments Cost DeKalb Schools Taxpayers in the last 5 years? $9,000,000 or $70,000,000

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In our opinion, DCSS should conduct a salary and compensation audit ASAP and be document each position (e.g. Dispatch Clerk, Bus Driver, Administrative Assistant I etc.) in the system, including a detailed a job description and the minimum requirements. In addition, each position should be placed on standardized pay scales. This should be placed on the DCSS website so that taxpayers can see what the jobs entails and how much each job pays.

At the September 15th, Emory Lavista Parent Council meeting, Shayna Steinfeld asked Ms. Tyson to unbury the 2004 salary audit done by Dr. Brown's administration. Tyson said she plans to look hard at CO salaries, and there will need to be a bridge between the '04 audit and a newer audit. She admitted the audit got buried, and said one should have been done every five years (meaning there should have been one in 2009).

If Ms. Tyson wants transparency for taxpayers, she needs to move on this immediately.

We taxpayers pay 61 Human Resources personnel approximately $4,500,000 in salary and benefits. They should have time to put this in a format taxpayers can view just like they've done for teachers.

Because we have nothing like this, for example, secretaries to "upper management" make twice the salaries of secretaries in other departments or the schools even as they perform the same functions. That's why the Ernst and Young audit advised standardizing job titles and functions. If you do the same job function, you should be placed on the same salary schedule under the correct number of years of experience.

Please let the board know that although we are pleased at the recent hiring of an internal auditor, the citizens expect an externally conducted salary audit - ASAP. All of the current posturing, charrettes, websites, 2020 visions, mean nothing while they continue to support the bloated salaries and job descriptions of so many at the top --- bleeding money from the very people our tax dollars are being generated to benefit -- our children.