PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
This chapter examines Glen Rose Independent School District (GRISD) personnel management functions in four sections:
- A. Organization and Management
- B. Recruitment and Retention
- C. Salaries and Employee Compensation
- D. Employee Relations
B. RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
Workforce planning for GRISD is critical to the continued success of the district and its students. Employee turnover is a modest 10 percent. The district relies on a variety of retention incentives such as an attractive salary and regular pay increases, which have the potential to change with increasing budgetary constraints. In addition to higher than average salaries, GRISD offers small class sizes. Comments in the TSPR survey show the staff believes that the district provides a quality education for their children.
According to the Texas Education Code Section 21.102, all teachers and principals must be employed under a probationary contract, a continuing contract or a term contract. All new full-time, professional district staff employed in positions requiring certification receive probationary contracts of one to three years. Once the probationary period is successfully completed, teachers and other professional staff may receive multi-year contracts. Principals make recommendations on contract extensions to the superintendent, who decides whether or not to present the information to the board. Decisions about contract renewal are usually made in January or February.
Exhibit 3-5 shows the full time equivalent (FTE) number of teachers in GRISD from 1996-97 through 2000-01.
Exhibit 3-5 Source: TEA, AEIS Reports 1996 through 2001.
GRISD Teacher Staffing
1996-97 through 2000-01
Year Teachers
(FTE)Teacher Increase
( from Previous YearPercent Change
( from Previous Year1996-97 136.6 N/A N/A 1997-98 142.6 6.0 4.4% 1998-99 151.1 8.5 6.0% 1999-2000 152.8 1.7 1.1% 2000-01 161.4 8.6 5.6% The Personnel and Human Resources director is responsible for recruiting activities, although administrators may attend local recruiting events. GRISD recruits at a variety of colleges as well as posting positions in educational trade publications.
FINDING
The district combines recruiting forces with Somervell County each year for an annual job fair. The first annual joint job fair began through the good relationship between district and county employees, and the two organizations worked out details and areas of responsibilities.
A joint recruiting effort provides an opportunity for GRISD staff to further strengthen working relationships with county employees. It also allows a small community to pool resources to attract interested applicants to the area. A teacher interested in GRISD can look for employment opportunities for a spouse with the county, making relocation more attractive.
COMMENDATION
GRISD collaborates with Somervell County to attract applicants with a local job fair.
FINDING
While the district does a good job of partnering with the county to recruit applicants it does not have a formal recruiting plan with identified goals or performance measures. GRISD does not track or analyze the number of interviewed applicants, the number of applications received or the total number hired for each recruitment effort against successful performance measures. The director said he attends college job fairs at 12 universities at least once and sometimes twice a year. This results in a minimum of 12 recruiting trips each year. The director made 21 trips in 2000-01 with an average cost for each trip of $81.33 for a total of $1,708. The recruiting effort results in an average of 75 applicants receiving GRISD recruiting information for each trip. The director asks interested students to sign a log, which he uses to send thank you letters after returning to the district. The 2001-02 budget for recruiting trips is $1,500, a reduction of $500 from the 2000-01 budget of $2,000. The budget reduction represents approximately six trips.
The director of Personnel and Human Resources has anecdotal reports of successful minority recruiting at targeted universities, but does not have an available report on the diversity of GRISD staff. Without a recruiting plan, the district is unable to define its diversity goals for recruiting and develop strategies to meet those goals.
In discussions on recruitment, the Personnel and Human Resources director said that the market for teachers has resulted in recruiters outnumbering potential applicants at some college events. The director also said that the real market for GRISD was the teacher with five or six years of teaching experience,from a large urban district, who had started to raise a family and wanted a better quality of life in a smaller rural setting.
GRISD does not keep recruiting performance information, so it cannot calculate the long-term value of recruiting efforts. GRISD has a hiring freeze in effect. Public forum participants questioned the need for recruiting trips when turnover is low and the district is not filling open positions. Without performance information and analysis, it is difficult to explain continued recruitment expenditures to the public.
Exhibit 3-6 shows examples of recruiting goals and strategies from districts around the state.
Exhibit 3-6 Source: Bastrop, Midland, Comal, Groesbeck and Killeen ISDs.
Examples of Recruiting Goals and Strategies
Implemented by Texas School Districts
District Goal Strategies Bastrop Midland Comal Select universities that have adequate candidates who meet the needs of the district. Focused on the following recruitment areas:
- Total available candidates/minority candidates.
- Available candidates in critical teaching fields.
- Success of employees hired from that school.
- Conducted job fair booth activities the past two years.
Groesbeck Develop local resources as potential teachers to increase interest in employees willing to live and work in the rural area.
- Provides good insurance benefits and encourages local residents to become teachers.
Killeen Allow certified employees to add a critical area-teaching field to their certificate.
- Approved financial support to aid professional teaching staff for training and test fees for the addition of critical teaching fields.
Districts increase their potential for success when they identify goals and implement strategies for reaching those goals. The development of a recruitment plan allows a district the flexibility to adjust for changes in district growth or staff composition.
Recommendation 22:
Develop a recruiting plan that identifies district hiring needs and includes goals, strategies and performance measures for staff recruitment.
The plan should identify strategies that focus on a target group, such as a follow-up contact with the most promising college recruits. The plan should also include strategies for successful recruitment of culturally diverse applicants that reflect the ethnicity of the student population and should consider alternative strategies for college recruiting trips in years where turnover is low and budgets are tight.
In addition to the plan, GRISD should establish and implement a process for tracking recruiting efforts and outcomes. Performance information should include methods for determining which advertisement or publication was most effective. The information, if retained in a database, would support analysis of efforts for successes and failures. This would allow the district to target the recruiting methods that produce the greatest number of new employees and discontinue recruiting efforts that are less successful.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The superintendent and the director of Personnel and Human Resources define recruiting goals and recommended strategies based upon anticipated hiring needs. April 2002 2. The director of Personnel and Human Resources writes the recruitment plan based on recruiting goals and strategies and solicits input from principals, directors and supervisors. May 2002 3. The director of Personnel and Human Resources incorporates changes and forwards the plan to the superintendent to present to the board for approval. June 2002 4. The director of Personnel and Human Resources implements the plan. July 2002 5. The director of Personnel and Human Resources requests that the director of Technology post the goals on the district's Web site for interested applicants to review. July 2002 6. The director of Technologyand the director of Personnel and Human Resources publish the recruiting plan on the district's Web site. August 2002 7. The director of Personnel and Human Resources tracks the results of recruiting efforts and reports results to the superintendent and board annually. Ongoing FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING
The Personnel and Human Resources Department does not prescreen applications to ensure they meet minimum district qualifications for the position sought.Teacher certifications are confirmed after the job interview. At least one applicant went as far as interviewing with the superintendent without meeting the board requirement of proper certification.
In addition, the GRISD employment application suggests that applicants can help the hiring process by providing a photograph. The photograph is not mandatory. Although having a photograph during the pre-interview process may be well intentioned on the part of the district, it opens the door for claims of discrimination for age, race, sex or disability.
The district has an attorney on retainer to answer questions. However, the attorney has not been asked to review employment related forms such as the application for compliance with changes in the area of employment law.
Numerous laws affect the hiring process. The Texas Education Code Chapter 21, Subchapter B sets certification requirements. The Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act are federal laws that provide discrimination standards. Failure to follow the law can be time consuming and costly.
Recommendation 23:
Modify the interview process and revise the employment application to maximize legal compliance.
The director of Personnel and Human Resources should prescreen applications to ensure that applicants meet minimum requirements. Prescreening applications can reduce the workload of the site-based interview team as well as keep all qualified applicants on equal standing during the hiring process. Applicants lacking necessary certification or other requirements of the job will not use valuable interview time until they are determined to meet the qualifications of the job. Legal counsel should periodically review the application and interview process for compliance with state and federal law.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The director of Personnel and Human Resources forwards screening and interview processes, applications and related hiring documents or forms to legal counsel for review. June 2002 2. The director of Personnel and Human Resources implements advice of counsel and begins prescreening applications. August 2002 3. The director of Personnel and Human Resources establishes a schedule for periodic review of applications and hiring forms and screening procedures. Ongoing FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING
The Personnel and Human Resources Department does not periodically check to see if employees have developed a criminal history since the original background check was performed.State law authorizes and in some cases requires districts to perform background checks on employees and volunteers to ensure that persons authorized to be around students do not place them at risk for victimization. GRISD runs a background check on prospective employees before hiring them. The district does not update the information. A criminal history check through the Texas Department of Public Safety costs $1.00 if requested through their online system. However, the Texas Education Code Section 22.083 allows a school district to request criminal history from any local law enforcement agency.
With periodic criminal history checks, the district prevents potential problems from becoming actual criminal complaints. Fort Worth ISD checks each employee's background as a preventive measure. While Fort Worth is a substantially larger district than GRISD, this is a good risk prevention measure for any district.
Recommendation 24:
Review employee criminal histories periodically.
The district's procedure should identify the positions and the frequency for updating criminal histories. The district should also establish a partnership with the Somervell County Sheriff's Office to minimize the cost of background checks.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The director of Personnel and Human Resources determines an appropriate number and interval for review of criminal histories. May 2002 2. The director of Personnel and Human Resources presents the procedure to the superintendent for approval. June 2002 3. The director of Personnel and Human Resources implements the procedure. July 2002 FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.