CLASSIFIED ADVISORY COUNCIL MINUTES

SEPTEMBER 19, 2005

MEMBERS PRESENT: Fay Isaacs – Administrative Support; JoAnn Bright – Custodial Staff; Barbara Hayes – Law Enforcement; Russ Southworth, Doug Botkin – Maintenance; Terri Horn – Operations; Phyllis Abernathy, Gail Grimes – Paraeducators; Sheila Sonka – Technology; Bob Glass, Scott LaFollette – Transportation.

ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT: Mary Browning, COO; Diana Shoop, Elizabeth Simpson – Human Resources.

VISITORS PRESENT: Chris Bolen, Maintenance.

Mary called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

OLD BUSINESS

Scott LaFollette referred to the February Classified Advisory Committee Minutes where it had been recommended that a “Do Not Block Intersection” sign be placed at the entrance to P.L. Dunbar High School to improve the flow of traffic. In the March Classified Advisory Committee Minutes, it had been reported that a new traffic sign had been posted at P.L. Dunbar. He indicated that there currently is no sign in place. Mary responded that she would check with Ken Tate, Director of Operations to have someone check to see if the sign had been removed and to replace it.

NEW BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

Fay Isaacs wanted to thank Stu for approving the sending of the e-mail to all employees regarding the Sick Leave Bank open enrollment. Diana Shoop commended Fay on the way she has updated the Sick Leave Bank process.

Fay asked if it would be possible to have a workshop scheduled where administrative support personnel would be able to meet with identified IAKSS staff members to put a face with a name and have the administrator describe their functions and duties. Mary requested available dates and the names of those administrators they would be interested in meeting.

Fay indicated that she had heard that X-days were being taken away and the 12 month administrative support personnel were going to be reduced to 10.5 months. Mary indicated that she has heard no discussion regarding either of those matters.

Fay indicated that she had received concerns about the reclassification process for employees and asked for clarification of how grade increases are determined. There had been some recent grade changes for select individuals that had raised a number of questions. Until recently grade change requests had gone before the Grading Committee (established by the Board of Education May 18, 1998 with formal establishment of the committee composition on September 13, 1999) for review. Mary indicated that, per Stu, the reorganization requests that are made by the Directors now go to the Cabinet for discussion and review. The Grading Committee has been put on “hiatus” for the time being while the process is being reviewed. Some of the recommendations previously submitted by the Grading Committee are still hanging. Ultimately the final decision on whether a position is reclassified belongs to the Superintendent. He decides which recommendations are forwarded to the Board for approval. The perception of the Grading Committee had been that, as peers, they could not adequately or objectively evaluate the needs of the other areas. They are considering the possibility of bringing in an independent consultant to review positions being recommended for change or to have an independent consultant develop a fair and objective measuring instrument for determining how a position should be graded.

CUSTODIANS

JoAnn Bright asked why, for the Saturday Detention program, the custodians were only allowed 2 hours pay (to open and close the building) even though the kids were there from 8 – 12? Mary Browning will check with Donna George – it is probably a budget issue for the program.

JoAnn asked why the custodian was not being allowed to be paid for the overtime they have to work when they are the only person in the building. Sometimes this happens towards the end of the week and there isn’t the opportunity to “flex” out the additional time. The custodians are being expected to clean up and secure the building and forget about the extra time. Mary explained that flex-time should be scheduled in advance when a principal or building supervisor knows there is an event that will be occurring that week that requires an alteration of the custodians schedule to avoid an overtime situation. If a situation develops where the principal or building supervisor requires that the custodian work overtime to get the building clean/secure then the custodian is required to report the time on their time sheet and be paid for it. A principal or building supervisor cannot refuse to pay an employee that has been permitted to work the time. Mary will have the information regarding flex scheduling and wage and hour overtime regulations included in the principal’s packets as a reminder of the requirements.

JoAnn asked who was responsible for cleaning and securing the building when there are activities that go on in the building past the custodians scheduled work time. Mary replied that if the principal tells the custodian that the PTA will clean up and secure the building then it is the principals’ responsibility.

JoAnn asked how an employee can be recommended for Conditional Renewal before being put in Progressive Discipline. The Contractual Status Recommendation Form states that for “Conditional Renewal” to be checked, “Employee is in Progressive Discipline procedure. Renewal is with conditions as specified by attached documents.” Mary responded that the Conditional Renewal recommendation may be the initiation of the Progressive Discipline process and an improvement plan should be attached.

PARAEDUCATORS

Phyllis Abernathy indicated that the crosswalk at Bellefonte and Blueberry had been blacked out but that there was still a cross walk sign in place. This is confusing for students and their parents. Mary indicated she would have Ken Tate check to see if it is a city sign and, if so, see what needs to be done to get it removed.

Phyllis said that last year Stu had indicated that if a situation arose where a Para had to take a day without pay that caused them to fall below the 180 days required to earn a full year of retirement service credit then the Para could be allowed to make up a day. She requested clarification on that issue. Diana Shoop responded that requests for Days without Pay are required to be submitted to the Director of Human Resources (in advance) and approved by the Board of Education. Personal Leave is required to be taken before a Day without Pay can be requested. If it is necessary to make up a day, the para would need to come in on a Records, Conference, or Professional Development Day and perform meaningful work. The missed day cannot be made up by adding time to an already scheduled work day (e.g. working an 8 hour day instead of 7). The retirement system specifies that it has to be worked on a completely separate day.

TRANSPORTATION

Scott LaFollette indicated that the Bus Drivers and Monitors do not have e-mail accounts so don’t get the information that is sent via e-mail to all FCPS employees. He suggested that these notifications be made through the Pay Voucher system as that is the only time many of them use the computer.

OTHER

Diana Shoop indicated that the Health Insurance Open Enrollment dates are October 17-28. The Benefits Fair will be October 20th from 4 – 8:00 p.m. at P.L. Dunbar High. Help Sessions will be scheduled throughout the open enrollment period at several sites around the District.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is October 3, 2005.

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