Special audit to determine if Youngstown schools overstaffed
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
An audit will determine whether the city school district employs too many people.
The academic distress commission last week approved a resolution directing the district to contract with the Cuyahoga County Educational Service Center for a staffing audit.
“The goal is to see if it’s appropriately staffed for the district it is today, if there’s an excess of people anywhere or a shortage anywhere,” said Joffrey Jones, academic distress commission chairman. “I’m expecting not so many shortages but expect it to find there is excess.”
If the audit determines there are excess employees in a particular department, the commission will have to develop a plan to address it.
People could be transferred to different departments or jobs combined, he said. That wouldn’t happen overnight but over a period of a year or two, Jones said.
The Cuyahoga County ESC, which the commission chairman pointed out doesn’t have ties to the city, will be paid $70 per hour for up to eight hours of work. After each eight hours, the cost reduces from $560 to $500 per day. The audit is expected to last between five and seven days and the cost is capped at $3,500.
The audit will compare the city school district to 20 comparable school districts based on size and community challenges, Jones said.
It was a recommendation of Ohio Department of Education after the department’s representatives worked in the district’s human resources office after the assistant superintendent resigned to take another job.
Brenda Kimble, school board president, said she’s always believed that the district’s central administration is top heavy.
“There are a lot of people who don’t seem to have a real position,” she said. “We have 5,400 students now. We have to balance the administration to meet the number of students we have.”
Like Jones, she said some positions could be combined depending on the audit results.
The district already combined the deputy superintendent of academic affairs and the assistant superintendent of human resources into one assistant superintendent job, Kimble said. A search is underway to fill that post.
The audit will show “who is administration and who is not administration so we can balance our budget and right size the district,” she said.