Coalinga-Huron

Unified School District

Operational Review

of the

Fiscal Services and Human Resources Departments

Prepared by

Total School Solutions

November 2016

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................1

SCOPE OF WORK.................................................................................................................................1

FISCAL SERVICES OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................3

HUMAN RESOURCES OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................4

EVALUATION .......................................................................................................................................4

POLICIES, PLANNING AND TOOLS ................................................................................................5

BUSINESS SERVICES ......................................................................................................................5

HUMAN RESOURCES ......................................................................................................................9

COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION .............................................................................11

BUSINESS SERVICES ....................................................................................................................11

HUMAN RESOURCES ....................................................................................................................12

HUMAN RESOURCES AND FISCAL SERVICES INTEGRATION OF SERVICES ................15

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE .................................................................................................16

RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................................................17

POLICIES, PLANNING AND TOOLS ..........................................................................................17

COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION .........................................................................20

HUMAN RESOURCES AND BUSINESS SERVICES INTEGRATION OF SERVICES .......23

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE .............................................................................................24

CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................................25

Page 1

COALINGA-HURON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

EFFICIENCY AND OPERATIONAL REVIEW OF THE

FISCAL SERVICES AND HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENTS

Introduction

The Coalinga-Huron Unified School District (CHUSD) engaged the services of the educational

consulting firm, Total School Solutions (TSS) in October 2016 to conduct an efficiency and

operational review of the Human Resources Department and Fiscal Services Department in the

District Office of CHUSD, to identify opportunities to enhance the efficiency and operations of

Human Resources and Fiscal Services. The purpose of the study is to review current policies,

procedures and practices, communication, duties of assigned staff and staffing levels to ensure

the operations are streamlined and maximizing operational efficiency while preserving the

District’s focus on student achievement and a strong financial foundation.

A critical element of this study was to determine the degree to which the work demonstrates

sound practices in support of staff, schools and students.

The CHUSD serves approximately 4,450 students in grades K-12 at its nine schools. The District

is led by Superintendent Dr. Helen Foster, who is serving in her second year. Dr. Foster’s

background includes teaching students and training teachers in pre-school, elementary, middle,

high school, community college and university levels inside and outside of California. Her work

has emphasized improving student achievement and providing instructional leadership to support

excellent teaching. Dr. Foster supports the 3 A’s—Academics, Arts & Athletics, believing that

each child has unique gifts and interests and that if public education is to tap those interests to

help each student evolve into a socially-responsible, well-educated and productive member of

society, schools should provide a wide-range of opportunities for those interests to develop.

DISTRICT MISSION

Coalinga-Huron Unified School District will engage, challenge and inspire all students by way of

a high-quality instructional program, utilizing safe and attractive facilities, and promoting

effective communication that honors the input of our stakeholders.

Scope of Work

This study included a review of the District’s Fiscal Services and Human Resources Departments

to evaluate the efficiency of the organizational structure, practices and processes and their

alignment with the District Mission and Vision, and the Board’s Goals, to ensure these

operational units are effectively able to support the District-wide initiatives.

Specifically, the Scope of the study is for TSS to:

Review existing Fiscal Services and Human Resources operational policies, procedures

and practices currently in use.

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Interview key staff in these departments and other District divisions to gather information

regarding management, communication structures, processes and systems in Fiscal

Services.

Review these departments’ organizational charts to ensure the structure provides sound

management and that critical functions and responsibilities are included.

Review of these departments’ delivery of service and assistance and interaction with

school sites to determine if opportunities exist for efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Provide an assessment of the incumbent employees’ skill sets in both departments and

development of recommendations regarding the needed professional development.

Make recommendations regarding organizational, procedural and systemic improvements

based on best practices.

Provide a draft report of observations and recommendations to the Superintendent.

Provide a final report to the Superintendent.

A benefit of engaging in this sort of study conducted by an independent third party is the

opportunity for district leadership to gain valuable insight into their effectiveness as managers

and leaders, and to understand the degree to which leadership goals and objectives are reflected

in District operations. It is not uncommon for some members of the central office operational

departments to find it difficult to fully understand and make the necessary connection between

their work and the District’s goals related to academic excellence and support for all students.

Actively engaging those individuals, who work in the District office or in other non-instructional

capacities, regarding the importance of aligning to the overall goals and objectives of the District

is typically helpful in developing a District culture that truly reflects support for schools and

students.

A number of staff members and members of the current management team in the District office

and a representative school principal were provided with an opportunity to speak with one or

more TSS professionals to provide information regarding District operations, practices,

communication systems and decision-making, their role in the District and their ideas for

improving services to schools and students. The themes that emerged from those interviews are

noted below. In many ways they reflected recognition that the departments’ priorities should be

to support an organization that is transitioning to an increased focus on improving student

achievement based on goals and actions outlined in the comprehensive 2016-17 Local Control

and Accountability Plan (LCAP).

The TSS team found the District staff to be, in most cases, responsive, cooperative and

professional.

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Fiscal Services Overview

The Fiscal Services Department is a division of Business Services and consists of seven (7.0)

full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. The Assistant Superintendent of Business Services is

responsible for the direct supervision of an administrative assistant as well as the Director of

Fiscal Services. The Assistant Superintendent also supervises departmental leaders in

maintenance, operations, transportation, and technology, although the organizational chart did

not clearly indicate this supervisory relationship. Additionally, the Assistant Superintendent is

responsible for oversight of the District’s facilities and construction program, which includes a

bond that was passed in November of 2016.

The Senior Secretary supports the Assistant Superintendent, processes worker’s compensation

claims, does mandated cost reporting, sets up new employee District email accounts, and handles

accounts receivable. The Director of Fiscal Services is responsible for departmental oversight

and management of staff, as well as budget development, budget analysis, journal entries and

budget transfers, year-end processing, purchase order approval, and a variety of other related

responsibilities. The Buyer/Purchasing Agent oversees the District purchasing system, asset

management, and Associated Student Body (ASB) accounting. The Accounting

Assistant/Receptionist supports accounts payable, translates oral and written materials for the

District, and serves as the department receptionist. The Accounting Specialist performs duties

such as accounts payable and fiscal reporting, including budget transfers. The Payroll Technician

processes the payroll for all District employees. Overall, it appears that the Fiscal Services

Department staff has a friendly and cooperative working relationship.

At the time of this study, the department Receptionist and the Superintendent’s Administrative

Assistant were both on leave from the District. There was a substitute employee in the

receptionist position and the Buyer/Purchasing Agent was performing the duties of her own

position and working out of class as the Superintendent’s Administrative Assistant. She had been

working the two positions simultaneously since July 2016 and was anticipating that this would

continue until January 2017. Due to the absence of these two employees, there had been an

increased workload on others in Business Services, and school site and other District personnel

interviewed indicated a diminished level of support and service from the Fiscal Services

Department.

Business Services staff members expressed an opinion that staffing levels were adequate to meet

the District’s needs, although the Buyer/Purchasing Agent might have been stretched too thin to

cover her own position as well as the Superintendent’s Administrative Assistant.

There has been recent turn-over in Fiscal Services as the purchasing agent and payroll technician

have worked in their current positions for less than one year. There are no desk manuals or

policy and procedure handbooks in the department for employees to reference to ensure that they

are following proper District procedures, which is particularly challenging when transitioning

new employees into the department.

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The District utilizes the Everest financial system which is integrated with the Fresno County

Office of Education. The District also has a separate position control system called Digital

Schools and does not utilize the position control module in Everest as reportedly the County

Office of Education has not made it available. The District also utilizes Digital Schools to allow

school sites to enter extra duty or supplemental pay data at the school site level.

Human Resources Overview

The Human Resources (HR) Department consists of five (5.0) full-time equivalent (FTE)

employees. The Director of Human Resources is responsible for department oversight,

supervising and evaluating the four other HR staff members. The Human Resources Specialist

(Certificated) is a confidential position and is responsible for providing services that support

certificated employees. The Human Resources Technician is also a confidential position that

addresses classified employee issues. The Benefits Technician performs technical support duties

in the administration of the District’s human resources and employee benefits programs. The

Office Assistant II/Subcaller performs a variety of clerical and record-keeping duties in addition

to providing oversight for substitutes in the District.

During the last three years, the current Human Resources Director has recommended the hiring

of the four current HR staff members, each of whom he currently supervises and evaluates, and

the expansion of the Department that now includes the existing four HR positions in addition to

the Director. Before the current Director entered the District, there was only a Human Resources

Specialist (1.0 FTE) who handled HR services. When the Director entered the position six years

ago, there was 1.5 FTE support staff to handle HR tasks. The Department now has 4.0 FTE

support staff to meet the District’s human resources needs. The District’s enrollment six years

ago was 4,270 students, and it grew slightly to 4,447 this last year.

The HR staff members, including the Director, believe that the department is staffed sufficiently

now to provide the quality leadership and services for a unified school district of this size. TSS

agrees that the department is staffed sufficiently now to plan and implement human resources

services successfully to efficiently meet the human resources needs of the District.

EVALUATION

Members of the TSS team, representing experienced human resources and business services

leadership, met on multiple occasions to review District practices and procedures as well as data

compiled from CHUSD. Attention was given to practices that support the District’s Mission to

“engage, challenge and inspire all students by way of a high-quality instructional program,

utilizing safe and attractive facilities, and promoting effective communication that honors the

input of our stakeholders.” Alternatives were reviewed and discussed in order to make certain

that recommendations were developed to best serve CHUSD.

TSS has categorized the core issues identified in four key areas as follows: Policies, Planning

and Tools; Communication and Collaboration; Human Resources and Fiscal Services Integration

of Services; and Organizational Structure. In each of the four areas, information about the

existing District practices and/or organizational structure are noted along with evidence of the

issues that have resulted and recommendations for improvement for enhanced service.

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Policies, Planning and Tools

There were many long-standing challenges and deficiencies identified with policies, procedures

and practices in the District’s business office in the areas of Budget, Management of District

Resources, Purchasing, Accounts Payable and Payroll. There were numerous concerns raised

and observed including a business office culture that is not focused on “best practices” in

addition to several issues related to a lack of legal compliance. This is a significant concern as it

relates to compliance with the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) among other legal

requirements.

BUSINESS SERVICES:

The budget development and monitoring process is insufficient to create and properly

manage the District’s budget. There were numerous concerns noted regarding the way in

which the District budget is developed, managed and disclosed to both the Board and the

public. Specifically, the majority of the District staff interviewed indicated confusion as

to how their budgets are allocated, and updated, and the District also appears not to be

fulfilling its legal requirements regarding the public disclosure of reserves.

District staff working outside of the business office consistently expressed concerns that

they had minimal, if any, input into the budgeting process. Budget development tools

such as department worksheets are not provided and since budgets are developed with

limited staff input that leaves program staff at a disadvantage when trying to managing

their budgets. For example, reportedly the District had Quality Education Investment Act

(QEIA) funding that had to be partially returned to the State because the District had not

properly monitored and ensured the funds were used for intended purposes. Close

management and monitoring of these funds, which are resources for supporting school

improvement efforts, should have occurred so that returning these funds could have been

avoided.

A common concern articulated by staff who are responsible for management of particular

budget areas was that often line items for supplies, service and equipment did not contain

sufficient budget allocation and requests for budget increases or transfers were not

responded to in a timely manner, resulting in payments to vendors from budget line items

that had insufficient budgets.

The position control system is not being properly utilized. A significant problem with the

budget process is the lack of encumbrances for salary and benefits. The District does not

utilize the position control module in the Everest system because apparently the County

Office of Education has not made it available. The best practice for school district

budgeting is to have the position control system roll into the District financial system and

budget to encumber (an estimate of future payments) these salary and benefit amounts.

District personnel should perform this “rolling” process and then periodically compare

the budget to the amount expended to date and encumbered to determine the accuracy of

the budgeted amounts. Since this process is not followed at the District, the budget for all

salary and benefits is very likely not accurate. This lack of attention to these kinds of

details can cause large variations between the budget and actual expenditures, and can

lead to overspending and fiscal instability.

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The District utilizes Digital Schools for purposes of position control which contains the

employee database, but the budget codes have not been updated in several years;

therefore, when a new employee is entered into the system by Human Resources staff, the

budget code used may be obsolete. Since Digital Schools personnel information does not

upload into the financial and payroll system, it is possible for a new employee to be

entered into the system and paid without the appropriate budget code and authorization. It

was reported that employees have been paid out of incorrect or invalid budget codes and

corrections were not made until the end of the school year. Digital Schools is also used at

school sites to report non-regular pay such as coaching stipends and additional hourly

pay. However, since the codes in Digital Schools have not been updated for years, it was

reported that the non-regular pay is often also miscoded to obsolete codes. Business

Services staff concurred that there were many issues regarding position control that could

be reduced or eliminated once the COE provides the position control module in Everest.

It was unclear as to when this feature will be available and offered to the District.

Federally funded programs are at risk for expenditures to be disallowed due to improper

coding of employee expenses. The District struggles to correctly code employees into the

position control system as noted above. Several examples of employees who had been

incorrectly coded to a program were identified, including an employee who had

previously worked in a particular program, moved to another position, with no change in

coding and thus was being charged to a program in which they no longer worked. This is

especially a concern in federally funded programs, where expenditures can be disallowed

if they are not properly coded.

There is no budget narrative provided to the Board or the County Office of Education.

The budget narrative should be included to explain to the Board and general public what

the financial status of the District is and what important factors to be considered. For

instance, factors that may not be obvious to the general public such as changes to

enrollment and average daily attendance, staffing, cash flow, one time funds, pension

contributions, retiree obligations, changes in reserve levels, etc., should be explained in a

narrative so that the Board and public have a better understanding of the dynamic nature

and complexities of the District’s budget. The narrative also gives the Assistant

Superintendent of Business Services an opportunity to express any potential concerns

regarding the District’s financial outlook.

For example, a budget narrative would help to explain the following:

o The multi-year projection reduces expenditures for supplies and services in excess

of 18 percent in future years, but there is not a clear explanation as to what these

reductions are and how they will be realized.

o Fund 13 (Food Service) has been deficit spending since 2013-14 and ended 2015-

16 with a deficit spending of $225,030 and a fund balance of -$13,764. The stated

deficit in 2016-17 budget is $157,474. There is no explanation offered and due to

the lack of close monitoring, it is likely this amount is understated.

o A transfer from the general fund will be needed to pay at least part of the food

service fund deficit. This transfer does not appear to be budgeted and will

decrease available funds in the general fund.

Page 7

The Director of Fiscal Services is responsible for overall budget development. However,

the current incumbent does not attend the Board of Education meetings where the budget

is presented and discussed. The Assistant Superintendent of Business Services presents

the budget report each month to the Board, which is not uncommon. However, the

Director of Fiscal Services is the person most well-versed and comfortable with all of the

details of the budget and should be present as well to ensure full transparency to the

public, and to respond to questions from the Board.

The District has not disclosed the reserves as prescribed by SB 858 at the budget hearing.

In June of 2014, Senate Bill (SB) 858 was signed by Governor Brown. This bill requires

public disclosure of District reserve levels at the District’s budget hearing. Specifically,

all California school districts are required to disclose reasons for their reserve levels that

are above the state minimum requirements. The minimum required percentage for

Coalinga Huron USD is 3 percent. The District would be well-advised to closely monitor

and have staff explain specific reasons for the changes in the reserve levels in the last

several fiscal years because, according to the unaudited actuals, these reserves have

varied significantly over the last several years:

Fiscal Year Increase/(Decrease)

2013-14 $655,700

2014-15 ($2,289,197)

2015-16 $502,877

2016-17 (budgeted) ($616,516)

There are several concerns regarding budget transparency and overall management of the

reserve levels:

o There is no close monitoring of the budget which may mean that deficit spending

in the current budget is understated which could lead to a depletion of reserves

more than what is projected in the current budget.

o The budgeting for and use of one-time money is not clearly identified or

quantified which could result in one-time money being expended on ongoing

costs obscuring potential structural deficits.

o Fund 17 (special reserve) is not included in the reserve section of the multi-year

projection. It is required that Fund 17 be documented in the multi-year

projections as part of the reserve, and not reporting it essentially understates the

reserve level.

o In both the current budget document and unaudited actual report, the amount

reserved for economic uncertainties was not quantified, which is a requirement.

There appears to be a lack of proper internal control systems in place in Accounts

Payable. The accounts payable desk processes many claims for payment, including

invoices and employee reimbursements. Invoices are paid against purchase orders coded

to accounts that may be invalid or have no approved budget allocation. An employee’s

reimbursement claim may be handled exclusively by this desk, from inputting the

reimbursement into Everest, to receiving the check from the county, to mailing the check

to the employee. This lack of adequate separation of duties leaves the District susceptible

to fraud among other concerns.

Page 8

The audit findings related to ASB budget development and tracking procedures

reportedly have been addressed at the District office and the High School with the use of

Blue Bear ASB software. The middle schools also have ASB accounts, but do not utilize

the Blue Bear software and have not developed an ASB budget or appropriate internal

controls as per the audit report finding. The purchasing agent indicated that deposits were

often held at the school site for many months, which is not an acceptable practice and

leaves the District susceptible to future audit findings and potential for misappropriation

of ASB funds.

Purchasing practices are unclear and not timely. In an attempt to streamline the

purchasing process, the Buyer/Purchasing Agent has developed new purchasing

procedures. However, site staff reported inadequate training and preparation to manage

the new processes. The change required school site personnel to enter requisitions

directly into the District financial system, Everest. Previously, this work was completed

by the purchasing agent in the business office. In addition to feeling inadequately trained

to enter and manage the requisition requests, several users indicated that they also did not

understand how to monitor the status, make changes or simply print requisitions once

entered. The Buyer/Purchasing Agent advised TSS that personnel are able to go into

Everest to determine if the requisition had been approved and a purchase order issued,

and that site staff could call the business office to have the requisition unlocked for

editing, etc. While this is helpful, site staff indicated that they were unaware that this

access existed or they could call if they needed to reopen a requisition.

Additionally, site staff are now required to obtain W-9 information for new vendors

which further increases the time it takes to have a purchase order issued and released.

Wet copy signatures from the Director of Fiscal Services are required on all requisitions

and, then again, when the purchase order is generated, which is another delay in the entire

process. It was reported that it could take two weeks to obtain a purchase order which for

routine items could cause a significant delay.

Professional Development and staff training are needed. A lack of training for District

staff was identified as a problem. Staff reported specifically a lack of support and training

involving the new Gmail accounts, the new District phone system, the new electronic

paystub access, the new cafeteria fund policy, and training for new District employees.

There is little time allocated for cross-training, although staff members reported that they

assist each other during “crunch” times. There are no regular staff meetings and no

written policies or desk procedures in the Business office. Opportunities for staff

development have been provided to some of the staff, but others have received little or no

outside training. Business Services for school districts is a dynamic and ever-changing

field with many nuisances to each position in the office. The office staff indicated an

openness to additional training and professional development opportunities and a

comprehensive plan should be developed to address their needs.

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HUMAN RESOURCES:

All school districts rely on the leadership and support from the Human Resources Department to

provide employees, schools and other District departments with a wide variety of services that

have important legal, fiscal, and program implications. To provide strong and efficient Human

Resources services, the department should develop an action plan composed of clearly stated

written goals and related strategies that will guide successful implementation of the plan.

The Human Resources Director reports that the department is in a transition period, with

the department expanding its staffing allocations that include staff members who are new

to their positions this year. The work is organized around certificated employee support

(Human Resources Specialist) and classified employee support (Human Resources

Technician). Both positions receive clerical support from the Office Assistant II/Sub

Caller. The Benefits Technician handles tasks to support employee benefits for both

certificated and classified employees. All four HR staff members work under the direct

supervision of the Director of Human Resources.

There are a number of resources that the Human Resources Department can use to help

prioritize and define goal areas for this year and future years. One such document is

published by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). The

document is a resource binder titled “Best Practices for School Human Resources

Administrators.” The document is a useful tool that includes proven practical human

resources strategies, solutions and samples for human resources administrators engaged

in identifying and implementing best human resources strategies to use in a school

district. There are other resources that will be described later in the report.

To establish comprehensive Human Resources written operational procedures, members

of the department met in June, 2016 to begin discussing immediate and longer-term

human resources issues. The department has continued to hold meetings every other

week to continue to address the development of goals and strategies for providing best

practices and services to the sites. Some of the goals identified in the June meeting

included, but were not limited to, the following areas: Processing classified employees

faster; increasing the availability of classified substitutes and adding substitute

information to the electronic system (Eschool); best procedure practices; perception of

helpfulness; and scheduling regular meetings, including with the new Payroll Technician

in fiscal services.

Human Resources staff feels it has the necessary staff now to provide timely, efficient

services to employees while also planning and developing more comprehensive written

human resources operational procedures for use within the department and for other

stakeholders in the District. These staff members came into their positions in human

resources without written procedures to help guide them as they entered work in their

new positions, and they feel that having written procedures in place will help them to do

their jobs more efficiently now and will guide new human resources employees in the

future to be more efficient as they enter their positions.

Page 10

The Human Resources Department has taken initial steps to develop written policies as

described above. One example is leaves of absence. The department has compiled a

binder of information that incorporates contract language and District procedures. The

binder is a useful tool for both Human Resources staff and for employees outside the

Human Resources Office for understanding and implementing consistent leave of

absence practices for all employees. Another example is the employee evaluation

process. Human Resources has developed a written Employee Evaluation Matrix and

provided administrative training to help implement evaluation requirements, including

timelines and related steps, to comply with contractual requirements and District

expectations. In addition, administrators have electronic access to useful information

about employees they are responsible for evaluating (through the “Padlet” program). By

organizing and presenting written information about evaluation procedures and practices,

supported by training for evaluators, the Human Resources Office has enhanced the

District’s ability to implement effective evaluation practices.

As for the other department managers and site administrators, the Director of Human

Resources works with the Superintendent, through the evaluation process, to develop,

monitor and assess annual performance goals and objectives. The evaluation process is

ongoing, and it provides an excellent opportunity for the Director to receive useful

feedback from the Superintendent and to grow professionally while improving skills and

knowledge as a human resources administrator.

Another key area of responsibility recognized by the Human Resources staff as a priority

area is the recruitment and retention of qualified staff for schools and support operations

throughout the District. Coalinga and Huron are rather remote areas geographically, and

it is challenging for the District to recruit and retain qualified administrators, teachers and

support staff, particularly in the current competitive market in which other school

districts are also vying for top-quality employees.

Effective use of technology is essential for providing a human resources office with

needed information and consistent practices. An example of steps by the Human

Resources Department is the use of the Laserfish program to reformat written documents

into electronic form for more efficient retrieval and use of employee information.

Training will be provided to staff to make efficient use of this technology. Also, the

substitute caller office uses a computer program called Eschool to assist with substitute

assignments. However, despite the successful implementation of these programs, there

are other programs in use that do not meet District needs efficiently. For example, they

use Digital Schools for position control and payroll functions. This program has resulted

in mistakes, which have occurred in both position control and payroll. The Everest

financial system also does not align well with human resources functions in the District.

Page 11

Communication and Collaboration

BUSINESS SERVICES:

A critical function of any school district business office is to effectively communicate accurate

and reliable fiscal information to the District, Board and the larger community. Staff members

should be proficient in their jobs and able to provide information in an effective and efficient and

timely manner. Business Services staff also needs to display compassion and confidence when

communicating with those outside their department. Resolving issues in a timely manner helps to

promote mutual respect among all parties.

There was a wide-spread lack of confidence expressed by District staff when discussing

the work of Business Services. This has resulted from the fact that policies and

procedures are not widely disseminated and communicated, as well as regular errors in

reporting, inconsistent and untimely responses to standard questions regarding issues and

requests for routine information. Like the human resources office, the business office

must have a strong sense of “customer service” and understand the importance of

responding to District staff, Board members, and the community in a manner that instills

confidence.

The District has a new Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services (IS) who serves

on the Superintendent’s Cabinet along with the Assistant Superintendent of Business

Services and the Director of Human Resources. This group of District leaders has an

opportunity to plan and set goals to have all the departments work together

collaboratively. The Superintendent indicated that one of her goals for the fiscal services

department is to ensure that a clear and accurate budget is presented to the Board of

Education and that all pertinent instructional personal can properly manage their budgets.

There are currently no regularly scheduled budget meetings between the Business

Services and Instructional Services departments and when budget discrepancies are

discovered, it was reported that it takes months before the discrepancies are resolved.

School site personnel raised concern over the lack of transparency around District

budgeting, payroll, and purchasing procedures and an overall lack of trust in the Business

Services Department.

The Director of Fiscal Services has been in this position for several years and as noted

earlier is the person responsible for budget development. Currently, budget development

occurs in a vacuum where there is very limited input from other District leadership and

department heads and school site personnel, which has led to frustration and confusion. It

was reported that requests to the business office for a more standard budget development

process, use of standard budget development tools and regular budget meetings have

gone unheeded and, as stated earlier, have resulted in several errors and a general lack of

confidence in the District’s budget.

Page 12

The more information that can be available and accessible to an employee in writing about

business services operational procedures, the better chance it can answer and clarify employee

questions and increase the efficiency of staff providing services.

The most effective way to provide the information from the policy and procedures

manual is at regular staff meetings or through specialized training. School site secretaries

typically have been trained once a year prior to the start of school year, but ongoing

training is often necessary. Currently, the District schools have a late start one day a

week and this would be an ideal opportunity for site secretaries to be trained on current

procedures or to address any challenges they are having with existing District systems or

processes.

District training could focus on one topic per month, working through an updated policies

procedures manual. Topics may include budget planning and review, developing a

purchasing requisition, substitute payroll, new employee procedures, etc. Providing

written procedures and training would provide answers to frequently asked questions,

help decrease data entry errors in the purchasing and payroll modules in Everest, and

reduce the interruptions during the work day in business services due to visits or phone

calls from District staff. This is especially important during critical fiscal services

deadlines and periods involving reporting.

As stated previously, other departments and school sites have a lack of confidence in the

leadership of the Business Services Department. Attending staff meetings and sharing

budget information, providing staff development opportunities for principals, department

heads, and other key personnel would help to alleviate these issues, increase fiscal

transparency and improve relationships throughout the District. To increase trust and

confidence, open communication is the key along with providing accurate and timely

information. Scheduling regular budget meetings with the Superintendent’s Cabinet

would be a critical first step to gain trust of the other cabinet members. Communication

with the Board of Education through training on the budget and other fiscal areas is also

important to ensure full transparency.

HUMAN RESOURCES:

Any school district human resources office should be a welcoming place for employees and other

District stakeholders to visit, ask questions, raise concerns, and generally get assistance in a

friendly, non-threatening atmosphere. A strong environment of “customer service” should exist,

with human resources staff listening respectfully to people visiting the office and responding in a

helpful, appropriate way. On occasions, where the human resources staff does not have the

information needed by an employee or other stakeholder, the staff should communicate when

and how that information will be made available to the employee in a timely manner.

The more information that can be available and accessible to an employee in writing about

human resources operational procedures, the better chance that information can answer and

clarify employee questions, thereby minimizing the need for employees to call, visit or otherwise

communicate their questions to office staff. In this way, human resources staff will be able to

spend less time researching information for each employee request and more time delivering

efficient services.

Page 13

All Human Resources staff members indicated that they work well together and value

good communication and collaboration practices with each other. They also recognize

the importance for them to collaborate and communicate well with staff from other

departments and from the schools in addition to other stakeholders in the community.

One of the first goals developed by the Human Resources staff is that they establish a

perception from those outside the Department of helpfulness by Human Resources staff

that addresses strong customer service practices. Based on this goal, the staff has

discussed developing and implementing a customer satisfaction survey to get feedback

about the department’s performance from other employees in the District.

Since in the past the Human Resources Department had not developed a comprehensive

set of written operational procedures to share with employees, and recognizing the need

to provide such procedures to communicate with others, the Department has begun a

process toward completing written operational procedures. The Department plans to

continue its work toward completing written procedures and communicating them to all

District employees.

The District Mission Statement includes the idea of “promoting effective communication

that honors the input of our stakeholders.” The input of stakeholders is necessary for a

school district to achieve a level of collaboration that invites active participants with the

school community. Additionally, Board Policy 1000(a) states: “In order to identify

community concerns and enlist support for the schools, the Board shall establish effective

two-way communication systems between schools and the community….Schools,

parents/guardians, community members and local organizations must continually

collaborate as partners.”

The District addressed the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) requirement

for stakeholder engagement by involving parents on several advisory committees and as

well as numerous engagement meetings held last spring with leadership provided by the

Superintendent, District administrators, site administrators, and bilingual classified staff.

The purpose of the engagement meetings was to inform community members about the

LCAP process and to encourage community engagement in the process. The District

recognizes and embraces the notion of providing information and transparency through

which meaningful engagement with stakeholders can occur.

The Superintendent’s Cabinet consists of the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent of

Instructional Services, Assistant Superintendent of Business, and Director of Human

Resources. In terms of longevity in the District, the Assistant Superintendent for

Instructional Services is in her first year in CHUSD, the Superintendent is in her second

year, the Assistant Superintendent of Business has served many years in the District as a

teacher, site administrator, and District office administrator, and the Director of Human

Resources is in his sixth year in education and in the District as the Director of Human

Resources. The fact that there are two administrators relatively new to the District but

with extensive background working directly with teachers and instructional programs

(Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services) and two

administrators who have served longer-term in the District (Assistant Superintendent of

Business and Director of Human Resources) provides an opportunity to share and benefit

from balanced perspectives available based on historical knowledge of the District and

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new thinking gained from working in other California school districts. Such a

combination, if used in a collaborative spirit, can increase creative problem solving

approaches and enhance productivity of the Cabinet.

A school district needs to work with its employee associations (certificated and

classified) in many important ways including, but not limited to, collective bargaining,

employee discipline matters, and contract administration. It is most beneficial if District

leaders and the employee group leaders develop trusting, collaborative relationships

through open, positive communication practices.

Last year, the District replaced the Director of Human Resources with an attorney to

serve on the District bargaining team in its negotiations with the Coalinga-Huron Unified

Teachers Association/CTA/NEA (CHUTA). The goal was to improve outcomes from the

bargaining process, since progress was stalled with no signs of resolution in sight at the

time. The change of composition on the District bargaining team was prompted largely

by teacher leaders who believed that there would be little if any progress with the

Director still involved in the negotiations. Since then, the contract was settled with both

parties agreeing to a three-year contract extending through June 2019. The Director of

Human Resources continues to represent the District in the negotiations with the local

CSEA bargaining team that also achieved a three-year contract agreement.

Currently, the Human Resources Department is housed in a small office space that does

not allow its staff to meet with each other and with other District employees in a

comfortable and confidential environment. Work is now under way to re-locate the

Human Resources Office in a more suitable facility that will offer better opportunities for

staff to complete its work efficiently and to provide services more professionally for

employees.

By establishing and maintaining good communication and collaboration practices within

and between their departments, the Fiscal Services Director and Human Resources

Director will promote efficient problem solving practices to challenges that emerge in the

departments, such as effective payroll and position control practices.

The District and the local California School Employees Association (CSEA) employee

group jointly supported a classification study of District classified job descriptions,

including those in Fiscal Services and Human Resources. Such collaboration between

the District and CSEA is positive, and offers opportunities for implementing updated job

descriptions that will better define job duties and expectations for department staff and

for others throughout the District.

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Human Resources and Fiscal Services Integration of Services

The Fiscal Services Department currently shares a building with the Human Resources

Department which allows for ongoing support and communication between the two departments.

Human Resources will be relocating to a new building but the collaboration needs to continue,

especially between payroll and position control.

It is important that the flow of work within Fiscal Services and in Human Resources is efficient

and well-defined in order to avoid problems, such as those related to payroll and/or position

control. It is most critical that a position control system, with appropriate technology support, is

implemented between the departments with proper checks and balances to ensure for accuracy

and timely implementation.

Human Resources staff report a positive, collaborative relationships with Business Services staff

and that communication is good between members of the two departments.

As stated previously, employee data is entered into Digital Schools for position control and the

payroll information for each employee is entered again into Everest, the District financial

system. Many budget coding problems exist and the need for cross-referencing the data to

ensure accuracy makes the process frustrating and time consuming. The Fresno County Office

of Education maintains the Everest program and is working on implementing a position control

module. Until that time, weekly meetings with payroll and HR staff are necessary to ensure all

employees are paid correctly and on time, and charged to the appropriate budget.

The job duties of the newly created Benefits Technician position was previously included in the

duties of the Payroll Technician, under the supervision of the Fiscal Services Director. Since the

position is now part of Human Resources, it is important to ensure cross-training to allow for

payroll support by the Benefits Technician, in the event that the Payroll Technician is

unavailable to process District payroll.

Weekly meetings are held that include some HR staff (the Human Resources Specialist, Human

Resources Technician, and Benefits Technician) and the Payroll Technician, who is also new in

the position this year. The purpose of these meetings is to coordinate and update the status of

individual employees with regard to issues such as transfer/promotions, revised compensation,

leaves, new hires, and other shared issues.

To support efficient operations and delivery of key services provided jointly by Fiscal Services

and Human Resources, both departments should have access to shared data that will facilitate

accurate results. The use of an integrated electronic information system is important for

maintaining up-to-date data that will be valuable and necessary for both departments.

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Organizational Structure

Based on the 2015-16 District Organizational Chart, the Superintendent is responsible for

supervising and evaluating the school principals in addition to the following three department

leads: Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services; Assistant Superintendent of Business

Services; and Director of Human Resources. All three department leads are sitting members of

the Superintendent’s Cabinet.

Board Policies and Administrative Regulations relating to Human Resources (4000 series) are

not all current as they should be to reflect existing legal requirements. There appears to have

been a review of Board Policies and Administrative Regulations in February 2011, since a large

percentage of the current policies and regulations reflect approval that month.

Although the 2015-16 District Organizational Chart includes position titles and the names of

some of the individuals filling those positions, it does not indicate clear lines of supervision

between all the positions included on the chart.

According to the job descriptions reviewed for positions in Business Services, the Assistant

Superintendent of Business Services reports directly to the Superintendent and supervises the

Payroll Technician, the Senior Secretary, and the Director of Fiscal Services. The Director of

Fiscal Services supervises the Accounting Assistant/Receptionist, the Accounting Specialist, and

the Buyer/Purchasing Agent.

In Human Resources, the Director of Human Resources reports directly to the Superintendent

and supervises the four Human Resources support staff as indicated earlier in this report.

A classification study was completed recently by Ewing Consulting to provide updated job

descriptions for the non-Confidential Human Resources positions as well as the other

classifications throughout the District. This work will be helpful for human resources staff as it

identifies and allocates the duties necessary to fulfill the work of the Department and track the

work of other classified employees in the District.

As previously described, the Director of Human Resources does not possess an Administrative

Services Credential, nor does he have experience as a certificated employee in a school district

(i.e. as teacher or school administrator). Some key District responsibilities for working with

certificated employees and with the teachers association (CHUTA) are assigned to the Assistant

Superintendent of Business Services, who does possess the administrative credential and does

have experience as a classroom teacher and school site administrator. Examples of key District

administrative duties related to certificated employees assigned to the Assistant Superintendent

of Business Services include representing the District in the certificated unit collective

bargaining process; working with the teacher association discipline matters; and handling other

situations in which close communication and collaboration with the teacher association are

required. In most school districts, a Human Resources department and administrator have

primary responsibility for working with individual certificated employees and with their

professional association.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Policies, Planning and Tools

To provide efficient business and fiscal services, the department, under the leadership of

the Assistant Superintendent, should develop a written action plan composed of clearly

stated goals supported by detailed strategies that support the goals. The plan should be

shared with the Superintendent and members of the Superintendent’s Cabinet for

feedback to support successful implementation of the plan.

All elements of the Business Services Department action plan should be incorporated by

the Assistant Superintendent into his own performance goals for the year, since his

leadership for implementing the plan will be essential for the plan’s success.

Each member of Business Services should be invested in and accountable for successful

implementation of the department’s goals. Their work should be aligned correctly, and

communication should be ongoing. Opportunities for useful feedback and professional

improvement are important by-products of the evaluation process.

Department goals should feed into and support District goals and initiatives. For example,

the District Mission Statement states that the “Coalinga-Huron Unified School District

will engage, challenge and inspire all students by way of a high-quality instructional

program, utilizing safe and attractive facilities, and promoting effective communication

that honors the input of our stakeholders.” Business Services’ goals should address how it

will support “a high-quality instructional program” and promote “communication that

honors the input of stakeholders.” Other sources of District initiatives that can serve a

basis for department goals include the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)

and the Superintendent’s priorities.

The District is legally required to disclose reserve levels as per SB 858 and must do so

for the 2017-18 budget. If staff is unsure as to how to meet the exact requirement of this

bill, they should consult with their legal team or other outside experts to ensure that the

District is properly complying with the law.

A strong budget development and monitoring processes should be developed. The budget

process should allow for school sites and other departments to easily review and monitor

their own budgets. Budgets should be spread across all funding lines and updated at

interim budget reporting periods and when budget transfers are requested. A budget

schedule should allow for sites and departments to have control of their operational

budgets with appropriate oversight by the Fiscal Services staff.

The budget should be reviewed regularly by the fiscal services leadership team and

budget transfers need to be timely entered to ensure that line items in the budget are

accurately reported.

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Fiscal stability is ultimately the Board’s responsibility. Therefore, the District should

identify appropriate training for all Board members on how to read and interpret the

SACS budget documents and what questions they should be asking the fiscal services

team.

To ensure transparency and foster a better understanding of the budget, the Assistant

Superintendent should write a narrative to explain, in layman’s terms, the status of the

budget, important factors impacting the budget as well as any financial challenges the

District might be facing.

A true position control system should be implemented and strict adherence to the proper

use of position control should be a priority for the District in order to effectively manage

District resources. The Business Services Department should work with the County

Office for implementation of the position control module for Everest. This will allow

greater accuracy of reporting and help reduce budgeting and payroll errors. The

department should also request an online approval process for purchasing requisitions to

allow for more timely purchase order processing.

Schedule monthly department meetings to allow for open communication between

Business Services staff members. Development of departmental goals, desk reviews,

policy and procedures, and cross-training are a few areas the department should focus on

during the initial meetings.

The District should consider hiring a substitute employee for the Administrative Assistant

position during that employee’s leave. This would allow the Buyer/Purchasing Agent to

process purchase orders in a more expedient manner and resume processing the new

vendor W-9 requests that became a site function this year.

The middle schools’ ASB should begin utilizing Blue Bear software and work with the

Fiscal Services Department on budget development and monitoring processes to ensure

appropriate internal controls are in place.

In collaboration with the external auditor, the District should explore changing the

requisition process so that the Director of Fiscal Services is not required to wet sign both

the requisition and the purchase order, and instead utilize the Everest online approval

process.

Internal control policies should be established to require at least two staff members to

handle in the process for approval and reimbursement of employee expenses.

As a member of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, the Assistant Superintendent participates

in weekly Cabinet meetings. As a standing member of Cabinet, the Assistant

Superintendent has the opportunity to collaborate with the Superintendent and the other

department leaders to support his and the Department’s goals and to support actively the

goals of the other departments, including the Superintendent’s Office.

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To provide efficient Human Resources services, the department, under the leadership of

the Human Resources Director, should develop a written action plan composed of clearly

stated goals supported by detailed strategies that support the goals. The plan should be

shared with the Superintendent and members of the Superintendent’s Cabinet for

feedback to support successful implementation of the plan.

The action plan should incorporate goals already discussed within the HR Department

beginning in June 2016-17 including, but not limited to, the following areas: customer

service, formalizing (in writing) best practices for human resources operations,

development of human resources monthly calendar, effective distribution of duties within

human resources staff, recruiting and recommending employment of qualified staff, and

providing effective incentives for staff retention.

Every written goal in the action plan developed by the Human Resources Director and

members of the department should be supported with specific written strategies that

identify the timeline for implementing the goal, people responsible for completing steps

for completion, and objective measures that will show the extent to which the goal was

achieved.

All elements of the Human Resources Department action plan should be incorporated by

the Director of Human Resources into his own performance goals for the year, since his

leadership for implementing the plan will be essential for the plan’s success.

Each member of Human Resources should be invested in and accountable for successful

implementation of the department’s goals. Their work should be aligned, and

communication should be ongoing. Opportunities for useful feedback and professional

improvement are important by-products of the evaluation process.

Department goals should also reflect and support District goals and initiatives. For

example, the District Mission Statement states that the “Coalinga-Huron Unified School

District will engage, challenge and inspire all students by way of a high-quality

instructional program, utilizing safe and attractive facilities, and promoting effective

communication that honors the input of our stakeholders.” Human Resources’ goals

should address how it will support “a high-quality instructional program” and promote

“communication that honors the input of stakeholders.” Other sources of District

initiatives that serve a basis for Human Resources goals include the Local Control and

Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the Superintendent’s priorities.

As a member of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, the Human Resources Director participates

in weekly Cabinet meetings. As a standing member of Cabinet, the Director has the

opportunity to collaborate with the Superintendent and the other department leaders to

support his and the department’s goals and to support actively the goals of the other

Departments, including the Superintendent’s Office.

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The primary purpose of any human resources department is to serve students and others

who work to support student success. As such, goals for the Human Resources

Department must reflect ways that student needs are ultimately served. Although the

focus of Human Resources is on concerns related to employees, the department should

always keep in sight the ultimate goal of supporting student success.

Communication and Collaboration

The Business Services Department should conduct a desk review of each position in the

department and develop a desk procedures manual for review and approval by the Human

Resources Department. Based on that review, the HR department can then compile a

District-wide policy and procedures manual to be made available to all District staff.

When procedures are revised, the department needs to provide changes to all relevant

district staff in a timely manner.

There should be regularly scheduled (at least monthly) budget meetings between the

Business Services and Instructional Services departments. When budget discrepancies are

discovered, there should a process for discussion, input and resolution that is collegial

and timely to ensure the budget is updated appropriately and compliant with the District’s

LCAP.

The Assistant Superintendent of Business Services and the Fiscal Services Director

should attend staff meetings, Superintendent’s Cabinet meetings, Board of Education

meetings, and any other opportunities to help disseminate the budget and related

information, and receive feedback regarding the budget development process and

administration of these processes. This will help facilitate fiscal transparency and work

towards gaining the trust and support of the District and larger community.

As members of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, the Director of Human Resources and

Assistant Superintendent of Business Services should represent the Human Resources

and Business Services Departments actively and in conjunction with District-wide

priorities developed by the Superintendent and other departments. They both should

communicate clearly and openly in Cabinet about any issues and work collaboratively to

provide clear and positive direction for the District. Despite any honest disagreements

that may emerge from discussions in Cabinet, they should convey to others outside

Cabinet that the Cabinet works as a unified team and, although sometimes members have

differing viewpoints, they support one another as members of a team in reaching

solutions that are in the best interests of the District and its students.

The District should evaluate the merits of having the Internet Technology (IT)

Department manage the District website. The website is currently updated by the

Business Services Department. There was concern expressed that the Business Services

team lacks the necessary skills to adequately manage the web site and that it is not

updated on a timely basis. The Information Technology (IT) Department is probably

better suited for this responsibility.

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The Director of Fiscal Services should communicate regularly with school site secretaries

and principals to gain a better understanding of how well the sites are handling business

tasks. Scheduling time to visit sites and discuss site specific issues is also recommended

on a quarterly basis.

The Director of Fiscal Services should report outcomes of these quarterly site meetings to

the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services so that he may also gain a better

understanding of the challenges the sites are facing to provide more focused direction and

leadership.

School secretaries should have regular monthly meeting which can also be used as a

training opportunity for attendance accounting, requisition process, payroll input, and

other District related duties.

The coding in Digital Schools needs to be updated as soon as possible and all obsolete

codes need to be purged from the system. A regular process for updating Digital Schools

should be included in the Business Services desk manuals.

To “promote effective communication that honors the input of our stakeholders” (from

District Mission Statement), the Human Resources Department should provide a

welcoming environment in which employees can expect to receive needed services in a

friendly, supportive and timely way.

One such goal area identified by Human Resources staff is in June 2013 meeting is

“Perception of Helpfulness.” To address this goal, the Department should develop and

implement a written Human Resources Department Customer Service Statement to

communicate widely and clearly to all employees and others in the school community

about how Human Resources will serve its “customers” in a friendly, helpful way.

Human Resources should be a District leader in customer service/employee relations.

Once the Customer Service Statement is created by the department, incorporating input

from others in the District, the department should communicate it widely and solicit

ongoing feedback from employees with the creation of a Customer Satisfaction Survey

that provides specific information for the department about employees’ perceptions of the

levels of quality and customer friendly aspects of Human Resources services.

As with other department goals, the customer service goal should be presented in written

form and accompanied by written strategies that identify who in Human Resources will

be responsible for implementing the strategies, the implementation timeline, and

measures for assessing the success of implementing the strategies to support this goal.

Developing and implementing this goal should be incorporated as one of the Director of

Human Resources performance goals for the year.

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The Human Resources Department’s goals and procedures should be communicated

clearly to its stakeholders, including other District departments and all schools. Such

communication will promote stronger collaboration between Human Resources and the

departments/schools, which in turn will promote improved efficiency for HR services.

Part of providing strong customer service is having readily available, written information

for employees about human resources and business services operational procedures.

Both the Human Resources and Business Services Departments should also make it a

goal for the year, and included as one of the Director’s and Assistant Superintendent’s

performance goals, to develop and widely disseminate Operational Procedures Manuals

that are easily accessible to all employees electronically and, as appropriate, in hard copy

format. These manuals should contain information about human resources and business

services procedures, including the people in the department to contact with questions in

particular areas and specific information that will reduce the need for employees to

contact the HR or Business Services Department for information. Having written

procedures will also ensure for a more uniform application of policies and practices for

all employees in the District.

To develop the categories of information to include in these manuals, the Human

Resources Director and staff should consult with the following resources: existing human

resources practices that have been created in written form already; the ACSA “Best

Practices” manual described in an earlier section of the report; CHUSD Board policies

and administrative regulations; other school districts in which human resources and

business services operational practices are compiled in written form.

When the Human Resources Department moves into its new, remodeled facility, it should

use the occasion to publicize the move to employees and communicate information about

work and progress occurring in Human Resources. It is an opportunity to invite

employees to see the new location and to learn more about Human Resources services

and emphasis on working collaboratively with employees throughout the District. An

open house celebration at the facility is also a good way to publicize Human Resources’

excitement in better serving the District.

As pertains to the status of the Director of Human Resources with certificated

negotiations, the District should maintain the composition of its present bargaining team,

based on recent success including the lawyer working with CHUTA to achieve a three-

year agreement. The Director and Superintendent should discuss the Director’s potential

future involvement in the certificated negotiations process, and working with other

certificated employee issues such as discipline matters, based on the Director’s

background, skills, abilities and District needs.

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Best practices for District staff in working with employee groups, including with

members of CHUTA leadership, is to form and nurture collaborative relationships. Such

relationships benefit from open, shared communication that features listening actively

and considering the interests of others. In this way, solutions to issues can be resolved in

a mutually respectful, agreeable way, even when there may be significant differences of

opinion between parties. The District should support the Human Resources staff,

including the Human Resources Director, by providing professional development

opportunities for them to address positive problem solving strategies that focus on

mutually respectful communication and promote excellent collaboration practices.

Interest-Based Problem Solving is one such strategy, although there are other approaches

and types of training that can provide skills for establishing more collaborative

relationships.

Some of the Human Resources Department priorities should include supporting the

schools to recruit and hire qualified teachers and other staff to promote academic success

for all students. This work should include assisting with the completion of accurate and

thorough background and reference checks on candidates to fill vacancies at the schools.

Currently, school administrators conduct these checks on candidates. Unless properly

trained, the school administrators are not always adept at asking correct, probing

questions necessary to ascertain a candidate’s viability for potential success in the

CHUSD.

Human Resources and Business Services Integration of Services

The Fiscal Services Director and Human Resources Officer should work together closely

and regularly to establish and monitor appropriate goals for the departments, consistent

with their individual goals for the year. The goals developed for these departments should

also align with goals developed by other departments and for the District as a whole, and

the goals can serve as a roadmap for staff in the departments to work together closely in

an ongoing manner. Possible goal areas might include, but not be limited to: inter-

departmental collaboration and communication; implementing best practices that provide

excellent support for the schools and other departments; and specific strategies for

implementing and evaluating progress toward meeting the goals. Working together

collaboratively also will provide excellent modeling for other staff in the departments to

work together toward achieving common goals.

The District should implement the Everest position control module fully, including

updating the current form and training those who are using it, to improve the personnel

mechanisms and fiscal controls for verifying and implementing employment into

positions. The current practices do not provide the needed level of checks and balances

from the people involved in making decisions about the positions.

Part of the position control process review should include exploration jointly by The

Director of Human Resources and Fiscal Services Director to seek software management

options for the smooth integration of information and services between both departments

to support efficient position control and payroll practices.

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The Benefits Technician in Human Resources should cross-train with the Payroll

Technician in Fiscal Services to ensure District payroll can be processed effectively at

times when the Payroll Technician is unavailable. Job descriptions should be reviewed to

ensure that this duty is included and any changes to the job description should be

provided to CSEA in the appropriate manner.

Implement and monitor the new job descriptions, as they will provide more accurate and

up-to-date information when completed about the specific duties assigned to each

classification. Also, review the confidential position job descriptions to determine

whether appropriate changes should be made (since these classifications were not

included in the recent classification study). Supervisors should carefully review and

revise the submitted drafts for accuracy and consistency as appropriate. The Human

Resources Officer and Fiscal Services Director should submit their recommendations to

the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Business Services to identify clearly

those duties that should reside in classifications affiliated with Human Resources and

those that should reside in Fiscal Services.

Organizational Structure

The organizational structure, including any organizational changes proposed and made

related to this study, should fit with the needs of the District’s schools as they work to

“provide all students an exemplary academic education and the foundation to become

productive citizens of their community.” (District Mission Statement)

The District organizational chart should be modified so that the lines of supervision are

clear. Although the 2015-16 District Organizational Chart includes position titles and the

names of some of the individuals filling those positions, it does not indicate clear lines of

supervision between all the positions included on the chart.

Modify job descriptions as needed to ensure that the supervisor stated on the job

description matches the organizational chart.

Ensure that the organizational chart is reviewed and approved by the Board or the

Superintendent on an annual basis.

When modifying the organizational chart, consider assigning the payroll clerk to report to

the Director of Fiscal Services. In most districts, the Assistant Superintendent of Business

Services generally oversees department heads such as the Director of Fiscal Services,

Maintenance & Operations, Transportation, etc. The Director of Fiscal Services oversees

the business office personnel.

District-wide, all Board Policies and Administrative Regulations that are not current and

do not reflect existing legal requirements should be reviewed and updated as soon as

possible. There should be an on-going and purposeful process for review of Board

Policies on a regular basis to ensure compliance at all times.

Page 25

Individual and department goals should align with the overall priorities of the District,

including the Board’s Goal Areas identified for 2016-17. This alignment will provide

some measure of consistency throughout the organization, regardless of the specific

structures or nature of the work performed by its various departments and schools.

CONCLUSION

It is important that strong systems and procedures be in place and understood by all users and

stakeholders in the District. The observations and recommendations made in this report are

intended to help strengthen systems, procedures and practices.

The Board of Education and leadership team of Coalinga-Huron Unified School District is

commended for seeking an independent opinion through this review. The TSS team found the

District staff to be, in most cases, responsive and cooperative and wishes to extend their

appreciation for the openness and submission of data and reports for this examination.

The observations and recommendations presented in this report, related to school improvement

and ongoing financial issues, represent both challenges and opportunities for thoughtful and

engaged leadership in the District. Total School Solutions professionals are ready to assist in any

way that the District may need to accomplish this work.