BOE Review Team interviews TUF
09/06/08

On Sept 27th I met with R.S. "Skip" Archibald Ed.D. who is a prior superintendant and is heading the review team. When I was identified by the staff I was called the "Tax Guy", not exactly accurate but fair enough.

I spent considerable time providing information about problems known to me. Some of those have appeared in prior TUF articles. Other were told to me in confidence so I will not share them here.

The review is conducted by consultants hired by MGT of America Much of the interview was spent informing me of who is on the MGT team and how they work. Everyone on the team has been through similar reviews before of K-12 public school systems. Skip mentioned that they are doing what MGT refers to as a program review and not a performance review as the BOE (Board of Education) has been calling it.

Perhaps one difference between the two is that this review will not be looking at the performance of individuals. In fact MGT spent considerable time assuring staff that they are not evaluating individual performance. Time will not permit it and MGT has found that staff is more forthcoming with information when they understand that. MGT has also assured staff that any information they provide is kept in confidence and is corroborated so no one person can be held accountable for whistle blowing.

MGT's team includes a CPA, an ex-superintendant who is a facilities expert, a gentleman employed by Florida State University working transportation and security, an MGT full partner who has headed technology for Florida State's, and a human resources specialist.

This review is shorter than usual. They would usually take six months. The constraint on time is mainly because the BOE awarded the contract in the last moments of last year and wants the information in time to use it in preparing next year's budget.

One consequence of this is that they will not be performing any compensation studies to see if we are paying the correct amount for services/salaries. They will however point out areas where they think this will be necessary.

The review started in earnest in July with what was called a diagnostic review to get a road map of what needs to be done. I have some confidence in the value of this diagnostic because it was able to identify the twice over payment of health insurance money due to errors made by the human resources department.

Using the information gathered by the diagnostic MGT prepared a data request list that they gave to BOE staff. The estimate is that filling this out took hundreds of person hours. Kudos to our staff who did all this during the startup of the school year.

From that point the approach was for the team to interview staff/Board members/Citizens/etc during the day and at the end of each day the team meets to share information across specialties. They then identify information that is missing, strengths and weakness and problems that are systemic in nature (e.g. what is in place that prevents the willing worker from performing). They then pick priorities for the week. For instance since Gary Hall (head of human resources) has resigned that will need special attention.

The critical interview segment was concluded by the end of August. Next on the agenda is this Monday's Forum. It will be on Monday Sept 8th, at the Middle School from 6:00 - 9:00. Please come to give your views of where the school can improve. Remember this is not only about saving money, it's about making a better school system. For all of you who have complained in the past, this is your opportunity to help.

For those who can't make it but have ideas or suggestions you can submit them anonymously at http://ftpspublicforum.mgtamer.com/.

A few other areas of investigation:
• Talking to parents that have pulled their children out of school to find out why.
• There will be a survey of staff asking questions in various areas such as safety, are there too many meetings, is there opportunity for professional and career growth. Responses will be available to the public online with comparison to a national database.
• Looking at benchmarks to examine the amount of money we are spending on litigation.

In late September each consultant will send Skip their report. He and others will review them to look for inconsistencies between the reports. And it is sent back to the consultants. Late October / early November findings are sent to our superintendant Ed Seto. It is his job to review them for the factual accuracy of the data. If the data is not accurate then Mr. Seto must submit data explaining why.

MGT will review his comments and send a final draft to Mr. Seto for him to again review the facts. The final presentation will be presented to the Board and will be made public at a Board meeting on December 11th.

While I wish there was time and money for some of the areas that will not be covered I'm heartened by the many indications of thoroughness in what has been done so far. No doubt we should look at this review as a starting off point and not an endpoint for improving our school system.

It's also worth commenting that Skip has found that staff has been cooperative. He also believes that Mr. Calavano and Seto have been extremely helpful and forthcoming and are looking at this as a valuable opportunity to improve the school system.

The future - There are areas that will not be covered by this review but I am hopeful that there will be enough information provided that the BOE will investigate those areas. Of course we must wait to see with the review tells us before any of that can be planned.

We are also not ready to rest there. Last year at Township Council did ask for a bid for a partial review of Township operations. All of the bids came in too high so no review was performed. It was TUF's hope that money would be provided in this year's municipal budget. Learning that there was none TUF's Phil Kramer spoke two resent budget meetings asking that money be set aside for such a review. Councilman James Vassanella appeared quite interested and the members of Council presents directed assistant manager Donna Vieiro to begin a preliminary investigation. TUF suggested that MGT be contacted and asked to speak at a township meeting about the concept of what an outside review can provide for Council.

Commentary - TUF has no evidence but we wonder out loud if the timing of the review, the numerous problems that have been found in the HR department in the past and the resignation of the head of HR are more than a coincidence.

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