New central office OK’d in St. Helena

GREENSBURG — A plan to reorganize the St. Helena Parish school system’s central office nearly stalled Thursday night when Personnel Committee members said they needed more time to review the revised job descriptions the superintendent proposed.

The revisions involve shifting responsibilities among staff members, with some taking on additional roles without extra pay, to accommodate the new common core and value-added reform programs, Superintendent Kelli Joseph said.

“We just don’t have the funds to hire new people to help implement the new reforms,” Joseph said.

The reorganization plan would incorporate the new responsibilities while ensuring they are distributed equitably, she said.

The four employees — the system’s parent facilitator, accounting assistant, central office clerk and Title I clerk — and the union all agreed to the changes, Joseph said.

In addition to changing duties, the parent facilitator would become a 12-month, rather than a nine-month, position but would keep the same pay rate, she said.

The committee ultimately voted to approve the changes for all but the accounting assistant position, but only after first voting to table the matter.

Committee member Linda Chaney said she wanted more time to review the revisions, particularly the salaries, and made a motion to put off action on the proposal until the committee’s June meeting. Joyce Porter seconded the motion.

The committee voted 2-1 to table, with Virginia Bell voting against.

An accompanying item adopting the superintendent’s overall reorganization plan was likewise tabled by a vote of 3-0.

The committee later entered an executive session to discuss other personnel matters involving the termination of a non-tenured employee and setting a disciplinary hearing for a tenured employee. Upon returning to open session, members voted to approve both of those items, then brought the job description revisions back for consideration.

Committee members consulted each other briefly as to which of the four position revisions they agreed upon, without discussion as to their reasons for each, then voted to approve the description revisions for all but the accounting assistant.

The committee vote was 3-0.

The full School Board unanimously approved the same following the committee meeting.

The reorganization plan was not brought back up for reconsideration at either the committee or full board meeting.