March 24, 2015

 Key Work Tasks
 Commendations and Recommendations by Area
 Potential Fiscal Impact
 Questions and Answers
1

 Diagnostic Review
 Week of December 10, 2014
 Surveys
 Administrators, Teachers, and Others
 Onsite Review Work
 Week of January 12 th and 19 th with 5 consultants
 Completed interviews and focus groups with division personnel and school board members
 Observed SCPS operations in numerous areas
 Visited 14 schools and other sites
 Peer School Division Comparisons
 Lots of Follow-Up and Analysis!
2

Division Organization and Management
 Commendations
 Preparing and disseminating comprehensive materials to Board members to prepare for school board meetings.
 Maintaining comprehensive, up-to-date policy and regulations, and for making these documents available online.
 Establishing both the Teacher and Parent
Advisory Committees.
 Creating and implementing the Superintendent’s well-articulated transition plan.
3

Division Organization and Management
 Major Recommendations
 Strengthen team building sessions to create a level of trust and understanding between Board members and the administration.
 Implement an annual School Board selfevaluation and complete the 2015 selfassessment.
 Consider the use of a timed agenda to keep the
School Board on schedule and curtail the lengthy board meetings.
4

Division Organization and Management
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Restructure the Central Office of Stafford
County Public Schools.
 Implement an accountability tracking system for the Superintendent’s Cabinet.
 Expand the Cabinet to include three principal representatives (one for each level), and create an Executive Staff Group of the
Superintendent’s direct reports.
5

Division Organization and Management
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Create a Business Advisory Group.
 Create (or Recreate) a Strategic Planning
Committee to augment the strategic planning process and direct the redevelopment or rejuvenation of a comprehensive strategic plan for Stafford County Public Schools.
 Develop an institutionalized budget planning process designed to reflect strategic planning outcomes and support accountability needs.
6

Division Organization and Management
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 More closely monitor expenditures for outsourced legal services.
 Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all legal services at least every five years.
 Develop a Communications Plan.
 Restructure the Stafford Education Foundation.
7

Instructional Services
 Commendations
 Implementing inclusive approaches to involving school leaders and giving them opportunities to share best practices.
 Having the highest percentage of schools fully accredited among comparison divisions.
 Developing local public school programs for students who would otherwise require placement in private settings to meet their educational needs.
8

Instructional Services
 Commendations
(Cont’d)
 Recognizing the importance of having all offices serving student instructional needs within a single unit of instruction.
 Recognizing the critical role that instructional technology can play in student learning.
9

Instructional Services
 Major Recommendations
 Define parameters for the role of the ITRT, and place supervision of ITRTs under the proposed
Supervisor of Instructional Technology.
 Reorganize the instructional unit of the central office in SCPS, and re-assign job responsibilities to positions more closely aligned to key roles.
 Expand the Office of Testing and Accountability to make program evaluation a core function.
10

Instructional Services
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Develop centrally identified parameters within which principals are empowered to make decisions and be held accountable for adherence.
 Create vertical articulation committees of teachers from kindergarten through high school to discuss, evaluate, and plan curricular initiatives and revisions.
 Eliminate the current mid-term and year-end exam schedule and implement quarterly benchmark tests.
11

Instructional Services
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Reduce course offerings through the establishment of non-negotiable parameters for student course enrollment in conjunction with a plan for eliminating mid-day bus runs to transport students to courses offered at other schools.
 Make placement of special education programs a more pro-active, inclusive decision beyond the
Student Services Unit in the central office.
12

Financial Management
 Commendations
 Adopting clear and measurable budget goals and communicating how the Superintendent’s
Budget is directly linked to each of these goals.
 Establishing a Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
Hotline.
 Making extensive use of P-Cards, and establishing a robust control process and that invoices are accurate and complete.
13

Financial Management
 Major Recommendations
 Proceed with the purchase and implementation of the MUNIS system.
 Include a bi-weekly or bi-monthly payroll as a desired component of the system, and move the cut-off dates closer to the actual pay dates for all payrolls.
 Reorganize the Financial Services Department to bring Budget and Grants under the leadership of the Director of Finance and
Accounting.
14

Financial Management
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Annually review and update the Finance
Manual.
 Move responsibility for Capital Budget compilation and oversight to the Financial
Services Department.
 Hire an Internal Auditor.
15

Human Resources Management
 Commendations
 Developing and annually monitoring specific goals and strategies for the Human Resources
Department.
 Delivering the New Teacher Institute for new instructional staff.
 Using the Live Chat function on the department’s website to strengthen customer service.
16

Human Resources Management
 Commendations
(Cont’d)
 Maintaining consistent, comprehensive, and secure employee records.
 Recognizing the need for increased recruitment activities, and acting on that need by committing additional resources for recruiting efforts.
 Conducting a comprehensive compensation study for educators.
17

Human Resources Management
 Major Recommendations
 Move all human resources functions currently performed by the Transportation and Nutrition
Services Departments to the SCPS Human
Resources Department.
 Reorganize the Human Resources Department to improve efficiency of operations.
 Explore alternative methods for delivering substitute training.
18

Human Resources Management
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Implement an electronic employee records management system for record maintenance.
 Develop a list of critical need positions and authorize the Human Resources Department to make job offers and obtain signed contracts prior to formal budget approval.
 Conduct a comprehensive classification and compensation study for non-instructional staff to address potential issues of external equity.
19

Facilities
 Commendations
 Maintaining effective levels of funding for facilities operations.
 Merging the Facility Planning, Design and
Construction and the Operation and Maintenance
Departments.
 Implementing an innovative approach to meeting the professional development needs of the division’s specialized workforce.
20

Facilities
 Commendations
(Cont’d)
 Staffing the Operations and Maintenance
Department according to accepted staffing models.
 Maintaining staffing levels in line with accepted standards used to calculate optimum custodial staffing for school districts.
 Adopting a written Energy and Natural
Resources Conservation Policy and creating an
Energy Management Program and Plan.
21

Facilities
 Major Recommendations
 Establish and use Facilities Management Key
Performance Indicators (KPI) to evaluate past performance and benchmark against peer organizations.
 Restructure the Facilities Services Department to fully integrate all sections with a focus on process improvement and systems management.
 Conduct a comprehensive facilities condition assessment, including an upgrade to the
SchoolDude information system.
22

Facilities
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Place higher priority on scheduling preventive maintenance inspection work as a substantial cost avoidance and budget savings practice.
 Restructure the Operations and Maintenance
Section to a zone maintenance organization with an integrated, competitive, customerbased performance measurement system.
 Expand the role of the Head Custodian to that of Building Energy and Safety Technician.
23

Facilities
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Restructure custodial staff and procedures to implement a true team cleaning process.
 Consider additional outsourcing of grounds maintenance operations.
 Restructure the Community Use of Facilities policy and regulations in order to increase rental income and optimize cost recovery.
24

Transportation
 Commendations
 Operating under a highly efficient, staggered bell system that is preventing the need for additional buses and drivers.
 Conducting 45-day school bus inspections on a cost-effective, cyclical and ongoing basis which is less disruptive for students and drivers.
 Performing an annual Labor Rate Survey to ensure that the division is charging a reasonable rate that is market competitive.
25

Transportation
 Major Recommendations
 Establish guidelines for the number and type of field trips that can be accommodated daily without negatively impacting regular afternoon routes.
 Adjust pricing for field trips to fully recover the cost for providing the trips.
 Purchase the Tyler GPS module and immediately implement a fully automated timekeeping and monitoring system.
26

Transportation
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Make recommendations for permanent parking locations that will address the growing needs.
 Develop an online tool for parents to use for notifying the Department of the childcare locations for their children.
27

Nutrition Services
 Commendations
 Maintaining exceptionally clean and well equipped kitchens, tasty and well-presented food, inviting staff members, and well behaved students.
 Performing valuable MPLH assessments on a monthly basis, and making staffing adjustments based on participation rate changes.
 Applying for and receiving an additional six cents per federally reimbursable lunch served as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of
2010.
28

Nutrition Services
 Major Recommendations
 Immediately begin charging the Food and
Nutrition Fund for direct costs, and for allowable indirect costs based on a percentage of gross revenues.
29

Technology
 Commendations
 Maintaining a well-developed and comprehensive Integrated Technology Plan.
 Outsourcing E-Rate activities.
 Implementing its tiered system of support.
 Developing and strictly adhering to standard operating procedures.
30

Technology
 Major Recommendations
 Reorganize the SCPS Technology Department.
 Form a Technology Executive Committee to include representatives from the business administrative areas, school leaders, and user groups.
 Explore using Capital Funds to maintain the computer replacement cycle and fund large technology projects.
31

Technology
 Major Recommendations
(Cont’d)
 Develop basic school and central office technology templates/models.
 Create and implement a standard operating procedure for announcing system downtime resulting from scheduled maintenance.
 Develop and implement a Preventative
Maintenance Checklist as a foundation for a division-wide annual maintenance plan for SCPS computers.
32

Cost Savings
2015-16 2016-17
Years
2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
Total 5-Year
(Costs) or
Savings
One-Time
(Costs) or
Savings
TOTAL COSTS ($551,232) ($803,212) ($896,141) ($825,881) ($830,921) ($3,681,487) ($581,074)
TOTAL
SAVINGS
TOTAL NET
SAVINGS
$8,101,275
$7,550,043
$9,453,571 $10,302,404 $12,190,170 $12,310,170
$8,650,359 $9,406,263 $11,364,289 $11,479,249
$52,131,690
$48,450,203
$0
($581,074)
TOTAL FIVE-YEAR NET SAVINGS PLUS ONE-TIME COSTS $47,869,129
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Evergreen Solutions, LLC
2878 Remington Green Circle
Tallahassee, Florida 32308
850.383.0111
850.383.1511 fax www.ConsultEvergreen.com
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