West Deptford School Board Opts for Two Payroll Staff

The West Deptford school board broke a tie from its previous meeting, approving a pair of part-time payroll and benefits employees in a 5-4 vote last week, and doubling the number of hours set for the position earlier this year.

The move, which saves the district about $16,000 per year versus a full-time position, is a departure from what the administration originally recommended, as well as a departure from how virtually every school district in the region handles the job.

“This is uncharted territory,” said superintendent Kevin Kitchenman. “We’re not aware of a district anywhere that has two part-timers handling this position; most districts have one full-time person.”

The two employees will each work 25 hours per week, with both taking on all aspects of the job–though, as Kitchenman pointed out, there will be a certain amount of overlap.

“There’s going to have to be communication between the two individuals, so there’s going to be some inherent inefficiencies,” he said.

Before the vote, board members came back to the debate they’d had previously, with Don Hicks and Dr. Brian Gotchel raising the question of whether a total of 50 hours was really necessary.

That touched off an argument both between board members and the administration, and Kitchenman said the lack of any model elsewhere makes it difficult to say whether 50 is the right number.

“I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you how well the two, 25-hour positions are going to work,” he said. “I do know that 40 hours between the two of them would be insufficient because of all the overlap that’s there.”

When Hicks suggested he would consider approving the position as “up to 25 hours” instead of a flat 25 hours, he was rebuffed.

“He just told you he needed at least 50 from two part-time workers,” Jim Mehaffey said. “We’re not running his office; he knows what he needs.”

Kitchenman added it would be nearly unworkable to call it an up-to-25-hour position.

“I don’t know how you advertise that, and how you explain to a candidate what ‘up to 25 hours’ means,” he said.

Kitchenman did say they could review the performance after a year and rewrite the position as necessary then.

The four board members who voted against the idea backed the idea of a full-time position at the first meeting, and Kate Cargill slammed the plan for two part-timers as a piecemeal approach.

“I just think it’s a short-term fix for something we need to think more long-term about,” she said.

Board President Christopher Strano countered that using part-timers allows the board and administration more flexibility, noting that a full-time position would lock them in to just that, and would be the costlier route.

“If we’re going to put cash out there, and we’re going to start spending money again, it should be on programs for kids,” he said.

The move also got criticism from the public; Ernest Kraus suggested outsourcing the entire operation, and said he knew of at least one firm that could do the entire job for less than $20,000.

Kraus said the district should be doing more to look for savings.

“I’m just wondering how many of these other things can be outsourced, so we can cut down on people who aren’t needed,” he said. “You can’t take away in the classroom.”

Strano said that, while outsourcing had been considered as an option, it didn’t meet all the needs of the district.

“The outsource company does not show up here any time someone has a problem with payroll,” he said. “You still need someone inside to manage over 300 people.”