The plan to share positions between the Jefferson and Madison County school districts was voided by the Madison school board before it even began.
During a special public meeting June 30 called by Madison County Superintendent Karen Pickles, the board unanimously agreed to cancel its previously approved plan with the Jefferson County school district with claims that there were changes made to the contract after it approved it.
Pickles and Jefferson County Superintendent Jackie Pons presented a plan to share director positions for ESE, transportation and human resources to their boards in June. The interdistrict agreement was first approved by the Madison board on June 2 with a 3-2 vote and reached a final approval on June 23 with unanimous passage by Jefferson’s board.
“These people did not bargain with us in good faith,” Madison board member VeEtta Hagan said during the June 30 meeting. “The contract that we had approved, they went and changed and inserted whatever they wanted to.”
The board member did not lay out any examples of what the changes were during the meeting. Neither did Pickles. A request for comment is pending with Pickles.
Pons explained there was a minor language adjustment decided by attorneys operating on behalf of the districts: “I thought the changes were so minor I didn’t think they needed to be presented to the board for approval again,” he told the Tallahassee Democrat.
According to Jefferson’s school district attorney there was only one change to the document, a deletion of a sentence mentioning that the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium would determine salary for the ESE director’s position.
“Obviously I’m disappointed, but we’re going to keep moving forward,” Pons said. “It’s going to be problematic for our budget. I mean, we’re down $1.2 million from the state.”
Both districts were slated to save at least $150,000 on salaries and benefits. The plan was for Madison to cover 60% of the ESE director’s salary and to invoice Jefferson for the rest and then for Jefferson to cover 60% of the salaries for the transportation and HR directors and invoice Madison for the remainder.
The staff member would spend most of his or her work time serving whichever district covers the bulk of its salary.
“I understand the allure of cost savings through shared services. However, with critical positions such as these I feel strongly that the risks outweigh the benefits,” Madison board member Devin Thompson said.
“Shared roles dilute accountability, hinder responsiveness and threaten staff retention and may not yield the financial savings that we expect.”
Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter/X: @AlaijahBrown3.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Madison school board kills shared positions plan with Jefferson, would have saved $150K
Reporting by Alaijah Brown, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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