DECEMBER 2002

VOL. 13 NO. 5

The CCASA Negotiations Team composed of Jerry Boles, Mark Coleman, Dusty Dickens, Ken Fowler, David Harcourt, Linda Kemp, Michael Kinnaird, Ron Montoya, Jessie Phee and Stephen Augspurger is seeking your help in identifying issues to be pursued for the 2003-2005 Agreement.

Please review the current Agreement and complete the negotiations input form contained in this newsletter. The current Agreement can be found on the CCASA web site (www.CCASA.net). The Negotiations team will review the input, discuss your input with the CCASA Representative Council at the February retreat, and begin formal negotiations with District representatives sometime after February 1, 2003. Printed copies of the Agreement will be distributed to all administrators as soon as printing is completed by the District.

As all of you know, CCASA regularly conducts a member survey that is designed to seek the opinion of CCASA members on critical topics and to provide direction for the CCASA leadership. If you have suggestions for topic areas to be surveyed please forward your suggestions to the CCASA office by calling 796-9602. It is anticipated that the survey will be finalized at the CCASA retreat on February 6 and 7 and will be distributed to the membership in late February or March.

Article 21-5 of the Negotiated Agreement between the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees and the Clark County School District provides that the District contribute $5.80 per administrator, per month, to the “School Administrators’ Welfare Trust Fund” for health insurance assistance for retired administrators. CCASA pays $450.00 annually in June or January to each eligible retired administrator for the first five years following retirement. This January CCASA will distribute $39,600.00 to eligible retired administrators for retiree health insurance assistance.

Article 21-8 of the Negotiated Agreement provides that the District contribute $6.65 per administrator, per month, to the “School Administrators’ Welfare Trust Fund” for unused sick leave reimbursement. Eligible retired administrators receive $10.00 per day for up to 250 days of unused sick leave in either June or January following their retirement from the District. This January CCASA will distribute $60,765.00 to eligible retired administrators for unused sick leave.

With the January 2003 payouts, CCASA will have paid out a cumulative amount of $740,570.00 in unused sick leave and $518,850.00 in retiree health insurance assistance for a combined total of $1,259,420.00 since these payouts were begun in 1987 and 1990 respectively.

Between July 1 and December 31, 2002, Ken Bedrosian, Sue Bernheisel, Robert Carl, Barbara Chilson, David Crine, Beverly Daly, James Fincher, Joe Gallia, Nancy Gasho, Susanne Golden, Linda Gregg, Barry Gunderson, June Gunderson, Pam Hawkins, Steve Jensen, Sue Jonas, Bob Johns, Carol Leavitt, Larry Lee, Jackie Locks, Tom Maveal, Karla McComb, Pat Merselis, Lynn Meyer, Tami Miyagi, Ron Ross, Karl Spendlove, Lynn Ruegamer, Jim Testa, Henry Thomas, and Mike Welding retired from the District. CCASA appreciates the many years of service these individuals have given to the students of the Clark County School District. Congratulations and best wishes are extended to these latest retirees. It has been a pleasure working with each of them.

The Administrators’ Advisory Council held its second meeting of the school year with Superintendent Garcia on Wednesday, December 18, 2002.

The Administrators’ Advisory Council consists of the CCASA Executive Board (Mark Coleman, Jerry Boles, David Harcourt, Kathy Kulas, and Barbie Holmes), presidents of CCAESP and CCASSP (Del Bean and Doug Gougar), the non-licensed representative on the Representative Council (Dusty Dickens), and Stephen Augspurger.

Agenda items for the December 18, 2002, meeting and a brief summary of the Superintendent’s responses are as follows:

1. Ending Fund Balance – CCASA requested a clarification of the District’s position regarding its ending fund balance in light of a recent indication that a bill draft had been introduced to increase it from 2% to 5.5%.

Mr. Garcia indicated that it remained the District’s position that restoring the ending fund balance to 2% is sufficient for a school district of our size.

2. iNVest Priorities – CCASA expressed concern that if the iNVest proposal is not fully funded, that a new set of priorities must be determined utilizing the available funds. CCASA expressed its desire to be a participant in establishing the priorities.

Mr. Garcia indicated that if the District is given a say in how new money will be spent, then CCASA will have a say. He specifically expressed a desire to make insurance for employees a priority.

3. School District Committees – CCASA expressed concern that frequently District committees are formed; conduct much, if not all, of their work in isolation; and the vast majority of the District employees do not become aware of their work until it is completed. CCASA requested that there be better communication throughout the process and suggested that the cabinet minutes might be used for the communication.

Mr. Garcia agreed to announce new District committees, identify their membership, and give regular updates of their activities in the cabinet minutes that are distributed to administrators.

4. School Emergency Plans – CCASA expressed concern that recently a 40 page document had been presented to administrators which, because of its size, was not usable.

Mr. Garcia and Dr. Orci agreed to place the item on the next cabinet agenda along with other safety issues.

5. Second Allocation – CCASA expressed concern that the second allocation which had, for years, been received in October is, now, not provided until December. Since the second allocation is based on the September count day, CCASA feels that an October distribution is appropriate.

Mr. Garcia indicated that he would look into the issue and provide an answer once it is determined.

6. Support Staff Hiring Procedure – CCASA expressed concern that the recently adopted procedure was cumbersome and is not working. A CCASA member familiar with the committee work that resulted in the change indicated that the procedure that was proposed as an option had been communicated as a mandate.

Mr. Garcia and Dr. Orci indicated that they will continue working with Dr. Rice as the District moves toward a procedure for support staff hiring similar to the procedure used for licensed staff.

NOTE: There was considerable discussion of options available in hiring 4.1 hour custodians.

7. Home Schoolers – CCASA expressed concern that the District does not have a monitoring plan for home schoolers exiting and re-entering the District. This concern has become greater since home schoolers are no longer required to be tested as the public school students are.

Mr. Garcia and Dr. Orci indicated that they will look into the change and will support the continued testing of home schoolers.

8. Attendance Enforcement – CCASA expressed a concern that there is a great deal of dissatisfaction in secondary schools regarding attendance enforcement. Despite the work of a District committee to change the statute there is no plan for the District to propose such a change.

Mr. Garcia indicated that he will use the cabinet minutes to provide information from the committee as it continues its work.

9. Testing – CCASA expressed concern that the new procedure requiring schools to mail out test results to parents is placing a difficult burden on school staffs that are already near overload.

Mr. Garcia was not aware of the shift in responsibility or the reason for doing so but promised to determine what caused the change.

10. Status of Topics Discussed at the November 1, 2002, meeting of the Administrators’ Advisory Council:

A. 4.5% High School Drop Out Rate – Data is being gathered for each high school.

B. Faculty Usage Regulation – The committee has completed its work and it will present its recommendation to the cabinet in the next couple of weeks.

C. Budget Development – Mr. Garcia indicated that meetings similar to the ones held last year will be held to provide opportunities for administrative input.

D. Edison Schools Test Results – Information is being gathered for the Edison schools and the Edison scores will be compared to comparable non-Edison schools.

Mr. Garcia indicated that he intended to continue to get more people in the selection / hiring process.

In August, 2001, Superintendent Garcia agreed to support the establishment of a CCASA / CCSD Administrative Reclassification Committee. This committee was established at CCASA’s request and in response to CCASA’s concerns expressed to the Board and Superintendent Garcia regarding the lack of criteria for the creation of new administrative positions, the reclassification of existing administrative positions, and the reclassification of support staff positions to administrative positions.

As you may remember, the District conducted a series of reorganizations which resulted in a number of administrative employees being reclassified to higher ranges and/or longer contracts. At that time, CCASA addressed the Board to express its support for administrative reclassification which resulted in administrators being more fairly compensated for their responsibilities.

While CCASA expressed support for administrative reclassification, CCASA also expressed concern to the Board on several occasions that the District procedure was arbitrary, inconsistently applied, created inequities, and in many circumstances, was simply unfair.

Superintendent Garcia agreed with CCASA that there must be an objective criteria to ensure fairness and equity across the District. He supported the establishment of the CCASA / CCSD Administrative Reclassification Committee to examine position reclassification, new position classification, and to have the committee develop a process to ensure fairness and equity.

William Ewing, a nationally recognized expert in the area of employee classification and compensation, was selected to provide guidance and assistance to the Reclassification Committee. CCASA committee members include Mark Coleman, Sue DeFrancesco, Ken Fowler, David Harcourt, Bill Miller, Betty Roqueni, Fred Smith, Allin Chandler and Stephen Augspurger. District representatives include George Ann Rice, Walt Rulffes, Richard Ennes, Edward Goldman, Hilary Engel, Shirley Sandoval, and Linda Thompson.

The following chronology describes the times and events associated with the CCASA / CCSD Reclassification Study:

August 2001 – Secured an agreement with Superintendent Garcia to pursue the reclassification project. Identified the membership of the CCASA / CCSD Reclassification Committee.

October 2001 – Identified Ewing and Company to provide guidance and assistance to the CCASA / CCSD Reclassification Committee.

November 2001 – Held initial meeting of the CCASA / CCSD Reclassification Committee and Bill Ewing. Reviewed process followed in LA Unified and San Diego Unified School Districts. Developed outline of process to be followed in the Clark County School District.

December 2001 – Identified focus groups for site management and central office management positions.

January 2002 – Held meetings with the various focus groups. Each focus group identified compensable factors (what people should be paid for). Job descriptions were reviewed and a process for developing and/or updating existing job descriptions was initiated.

February 2002 – Reviewed the information obtained from the focus groups. Reviewed existing job descriptions and began the process of updating existing job descriptions.

March 2002 – Developed a “Position Information Questionnaire” for non-school based administrative positions and requested that the questionnaire be completed by the non-school administrators.

April 2002 – The questionnaire was reviewed by the supervisor of the administrator completing it. The approved, completed questionnaire was utilized to update the job description or to develop a job description. The Reclassification Committee reviewed and revised the compensable factors. The factors were weighted and ranked for school based and non-school based administrative positions.

May 2002 – Continued collecting and developing job descriptions. Utilized the compensable factors and the rank and weight for each to develop a point ranking for each non-school based position. Utilized the compensable factors (staff size and complexity) to place building principals with similar job responsibilities on a Staff Size and Complexity chart. Multiple meetings held with division heads to verify the ranking, weighting, and appropriateness of the factors for school based and non-school based positions.

June 2002 – Continued refining the factors and the ranking of the administrative positions. Secured salary schedules for school based and non-school based positions outside of the District. Began the placement of the CCSD administrative positions on the CCSD unified salary schedule using the out of district salaries of comparable positions, as well as, the point ranking for non-school positions and the placement of site based principals on the Staff Size and Complexity chart.

September-October 2002 – Finalized the ranking of non-school based administrators and the placement of building principals on the Staff Size and Complexity chart. Finalized the placement of all administrative positions on the existing unified salary schedules.

November 2002 – Developed the regulations for implementing the process. The regulation included the procedure for placing new, retitled, and existing positions on the unified salary schedule initially, as well as, providing a mechanism for an annual review of the positions as needed. Many meetings were held with the Superintendent, department heads, and the cabinet. Meetings will be scheduled during the next couple of months with the Board of School Trustees, the CCASA Representative Council, the school based administrators, and the non-school based administrators to review the process.

On December 12, 2002, the CCASA Representative Council held its regular monthly meeting. The major items discussed and/or actions taken during the meeting included the following:

1. The revenue, expenditures, and balances within the CCASA Association and Trust Fund Accounts were reviewed;

2. President Coleman appointed David Harcourt to the District’s Administrator Evaluation Committee;

3. A CCASA Representative Council retreat was scheduled for February 6 and 7 in Mesquite;

4. Unused Sick Leave / Retiree Medical Assistance Payouts were approved;

5. A monetary donation to support the promotion of iNVest was approved;

6. An overview of negotiations for the 2003-2005 Agreement was provided;

7. The process for the District’s development of a new administrator evaluation was outlined;

8. Topics for the December 18, 2002, Administrators’ Advisory Council meeting were identified;

9. The PERS issues associated with the senior high school activity stipend were reviewed;

10. Del Bean, President of the Clark County Association of Elementary School Principals provided an update of the activities related to CCAESP. The CCASA Legal Committee had no new information to report and Mark Coleman and Stephen Augspurger reported on the activities of the Reclassification and ALN committees; and

11. Executive Director’s Report – Stephen Augspurger, CCASA Executive Director, provided an overview of the accountant’s report, the membership report, and a review of the various CCASA activities and the types of assistance provided to CCASA members.