Shrinking district's staff plan gets OK

Teachers unsure in Jacksonville

State Education Commissioner Johnny Key has approved a staffing plan to accommodate what will be a smaller Pulaski County Special School District after the detachment of the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District takes place in July 2016.

The staffing plan -- referred to as a dual seniority center plan and initially proposed by Pulaski County Special district Superintendent Jerry Guess and his staff -- will cut virtually all certified and support employees now working in 10 Jacksonville-area schools from the Pulaski County Special district employment rolls after the 2015-16 school year.

Those Pulaski County Special district employees in Jacksonville-area schools will, as a result of the plan, be ineligible to "bump," or displace, employees with fewer years of experience for jobs in other parts of the county district.

The newly approved staffing plan leaves the employees at Jacksonville campuses with no guarantees that they will be hired by the new district. And, even if hired by the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district, the former Pulaski County Special district employees face the likelihood of earning salaries and benefits below what they now earn in the Pulaski County Special district.

The Pulaski County Special district currently has about 17,000 students spread over Sherwood, Maumelle, Wrightsville, west Pulaski County and Jacksonville.

Guess on Wednesday called the decision by Key "bittersweet." But he also said the staffing plan is necessary to avoid an increase in personnel costs of as much as $6.5 million and to avoid as many as 600 changes in teacher and principal job assignments.

The possible cost increase and job changes would be the result of highly paid veteran employees in the Jacksonville schools opting to stay in the Pulaski County Special district, and doing that by "bumping" or displacing lesser-experienced and lesser-paid employees for jobs in other parts of the district.

"It's not a happy day, but it's a day where I think that Pulaski County Special got what we needed to keep our classrooms stable and manage our budget," Guess said.

Key, who serves as the school board in the state-controlled Pulaski County Special district, told Guess in a letter approving the plan that the decision "is a difficult one."

"It requires one to consider a number of factors including the serious concerns of the faculty and staff regarding job security, the financial viability of PCSSD as it seeks to exit fiscal distress, and how both PCSSD and JNPSD will be in position to provide for the academic success of the students," Key wrote in the letter, which Guess received Wednesday.

Key had a choice between the plan presented by Guess and one presented by the district's Personnel Policies Committee for certified staff members. The proposal by the certified-staff committee would have permitted employees throughout the district -- in Jacksonville and in the other parts of the Pulaski County Special district -- to qualify for vacant positions in either district based on their seniority.

The Personnel Policies Committee plan did not allow displacing less-senior fellow employees for desired jobs in Jacksonville and the rest of the Pulaski County Special district, but it would have given employees some choice of districts to work in and vacant positions to fill.

Pulaski County Special district leaders said the Personnel Policies Committee plan would have come with a cost to a district that is under state control for fiscal distress. District leaders also said the certified policies committee plan assumed incorrectly that the Pulaski County Special district had some authority to control Jacksonville district hiring.

The Pulaski County Community Advisory Board, which operates in the absence of an elected school board, sent the different staffing plans to Key last month without recommending either.

At that meeting, advisory board member Lindsey Gustafson called the choices "ugly."

Key said in his letter to Guess that he agreed with Gustafson's description but was approving the Pulaski County Special administration's plans for state-licensed teachers and for support staff.

"While not perfect, the administration proposal is the best option to avoid a significant ongoing cost that could hinder the efforts of the PCSSD to address its issues of fiscal distress," Key wrote.

"It will also help avert potential negative impacts on PCSSD students that could result from the ripple effect of a district-wide reduction-in-force policy," he said. "Finally, it does not negatively impact the ability of JNPSD to employ, in accordance with [desegregation ] Plan 2000, the appropriate level of faculty and staff as it prepares to operate as an independent school district in 2016."

The new Jacksonville district, created in November by the state Board of Education after an overwhelming vote of support by area residents in the September school election, is obligated to comply with the same desegregation requirements that the Pulaski County Special district must meet as a party in a 32-year-old federal school desegregation lawsuit. Those obligations include the employment of a racially diverse staff.

Phyllis Stewart, chief of staff for the Jacksonville district, said Wednesday that the new district is not obligated to hire the existing employees in the Jacksonville area schools nor will the new district -- expected to enroll about 4,000 students -- be able to match Pulaski County Special district salaries and benefits.

"We will be competitive with districts our size," Stewart said. "We don't have the revenue to support a salary schedule comparable to Pulaski County's or the benefit package they are able to offer."

District leaders hope to develop salary schedules that would be posted online in July so that potential employees can decide how to proceed, she said. The leaders plan to select principals for the Jacksonville area schools by late fall and start accepting applications from certified and support staff right after the first of the year for the 2016-17 school year.

Stewart said she hoped the employees in the Jacksonville schools will work hard in the coming year to provide the best opportunities possible for their students.

"We value the work that they do and we encourage them to make application with us," she said.

Employees in Jacksonville-area schools said Wednesday that they will have decisions to make.

Gary Beck is a 27-year employee of the Pulaski County Special district and currently principal of Bayou Meto Elementary that will be part of the Jacksonville district.

"Things are up in the air for me and my staff," Beck said. "I'm torn between two. I love Jacksonville. I've spent a lot of time in Jacksonville as principal at Jacksonville Elementary for six years and now at Bayou Meto for four years. There's a place in my heart for Jacksonville and a place in my heart for the Pulaski County Special district."

Janice Walker, principal at Warren Dupree Elementary in Jacksonville and a longtime district administrator, urged that the new district do its best to relieve apprehension by using a hiring process that is fair, equitable and extremely well-communicated.

"There are highly qualified administrators, teachers and support staff that are already working in the 10 schools," Walker also said. "As a principal and community member -- because I live in Jacksonville -- I would hope the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district would consider the current employees who are serving our students. This would allow for stability within the district because the current staff has worked to develop relationships with our students and their families. "

Metro on 06/04/2015

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