MEMORANDUM
TO: Board Members
FROM: Pedro E. Garcia, Ed.D.
DATE: August 31, 2007
RE: Board Letter
DR. JUNE KEEL, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
EBS Update
The first pay date for 10-month employees was last Friday, August 24th, and I am happy to report that it was one of the smoothest first paydays we have had.
- Leave accruals are printing on the pay stub and are accurate.
- Only new employees who opted for the 12-month pay plan were required to sign up. Employees were able to verify that they were on the 12-month pay option by checking for the line item deduction on their check stub. There was an error in calculating the deduction amount for teachers and some other employee groups; however, this has been corrected and the deduction will be corrected on their next check.
- The timekeepers have received extra training which has resulted in greater accuracy in reporting employee’s work time.
Most importantly, however, employees can understand their pay much more easily. Support for employees and users has greatly increased, resulting in less confusion, greater accuracy, and more confidence in the system.
403b Changes
Recently the Federal Government released new regulations regarding 403b’s that place a greater responsibility on employers to perform a due diligence regarding the 403b vendors and products that are made available to their employees. These regulations require us to:
- Have a plan document much like the private sector has for a 401(k).
- Make sure all employees receive communications regarding each investment option available under the program, just like other benefits.
- Make sure all employees have an opportunity to participate and establish enrollment meetings by each vendor for that purpose.
Acknowledging that we cannot realistically comply with the new regulations with our current scope of 40 different 403b vendors, the Benefits Office has been working on behalf of the Insurance Trust to send out an RFP for 403b services. The RFP will request bids under two scenarios: 1) if the vendor is a sole provider of 403b services; and 2) if the vendor is one of four vendors selected to provide 403b services. Based upon our initial requests for information from our existing vendors regarding these two scenarios, we anticipate some great responses providing our teachers with very low administrative fees, great selection, and excellent service.
Unfortunately, some vendors, instead of relying on their ability to provide competitive bids, have decided to lobby against the process and for their current commissions. They take the position that if we allow any and all vendors to provide 403b’s, we can escape our fiduciary responsibility of making sure our teachers are provided sound investment options. We think our teachers deserve better and believe we should work to make sure our teachers are provided the best programs available.
The RFP process should be completed by the end of September; the evaluation team will present their recommendation to the Insurance Trust for approval.
Benjamin J. Wright, Chief Administrative Officer, Administration, PreK-12
Student Orientation and Standard School Attire
District-wide Student Orientation took place on Monday, August 6, 2007 and Tuesday, August 7, 2007. There were 20,002 students in attendance for orientation, which is a decrease of approximately 2,000 students for the 06-07 school year.
Some of the activities provided were: class and homeroom schedules assigned; ID badge photos made; lockers assigned; Standard School Attire policy explained; faculty and staff introduced; tours of the building provided; supply lists distributed; parent orientation provided; and PTO/PTSA sign-up lists made available. Please see the attached reports for school-by-school data.
The second item of interest is the number of students placed in ISS or OSS because of Standard School Attire violations. We disaggregated the data by areas:
AREA ISS OSS
1 (Antioch/Stratford) 258 36
2 (Hunters Lane/Maplewood) 634 10
3 (Pearl-Cohn/Hillsboro) 291 4
4 (Glencliff/Overton) 223 6
5 (McGavock) 515 0
6 (Whites Creek/Hillwood 462 2
TOTAL 2,383 78
SANDRA TINNON, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Summer School 2006-2007
Attached is information regarding summer school. It is important to note that 4,047 students participated in the summer school program: 793 in elementary; 824 in middle; and 2,430 in high school.
While successful completion of summer school coursework is very important for students, decisions to promote students to the next grade level are determined by each student’s home school principal. For high school students, summer school affords them the opportunity to recover credit for courses previously failed and/or the advantage for advanced students to accelerate by taking courses for credit for the first time. High school students may be promoted to the next grade level as a result of passing summer school coursework if the credits earned meet the grade-level classification requirements. Middle school and elementary promotion decisions are determined by the home school principals. Promotion data as a result of summer school can be gathered and can be provided if needed.
This is the fourth year we have had a summer school graduation. The 2006-2007 graduates totaled 97.
Attachments
High School,/Middle School Orientation
Summer School Report
Summer Grade Distribution Report
PEG/mrb