Joel D. Montero
Chief Executive Ocer
Organization and Stafng Review
January 9, 2017
Kerman Unied School District
Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM
January 9, 2017
Robert Frausto, Superintendent
Kerman Unied School District
151 South First Street
Kerman, CA 93630
Dear Superintendent Frausto,
In September 2016, the Kerman Unied School District and the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistant
Team (FCMAT) entered into an agreement for FCMAT to review the district’s central oce organiza-
tion and stang. Specically, the study agreement states that FCMAT will perform the following:
1. Conduct an organizational and stang review of the following district departments
and provide recommendations for stang improvements or reductions, if any.
a. Fiscal Services
b. Human Resources
3. Evaluate the current workow and distribution of functions in and between each of
the above departments and provide recommendations for improved eciency, if any.
4. Provide comparative stang data for the high school secretarial sta from three
high schools of similar size and structure and provide recommendations for
stang improvements or reductions, if any. FCMAT will make every eort to
incorporate comparable high schools located in the same geographical region;
however, FCMAT may need to extend the borders of the search area for compa-
rable high schools based on factors outside of its control such as lack of coopera-
tion from targeted comparable high schools, etc.
is nal report contains the study team’s ndings and recommendations in the above areas of review.
FCMAT appreciates the opportunity to serve the Kerman Unied School District, and extends thanks
to all the sta for their assistance during eldwork.
Sincerely,
Joel D. Montero
Chief Executive Ocer
Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM
Kerman Unified School diStrict
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
About FCMAT ......................................................................................... iii
Introduction ............................................................................................ 1
Background ...................................................................................................... 1
Study and Report Guidelines ..................................................................... 1
Study Team....................................................................................................... 1
Executive Summary .............................................................................. 3
Findings and Recommendations ..................................................... 5
Organizational Structure ............................................................................. 5
Business Department ................................................................................... 7
Human Resources Department ............................................................... 13
Kerman High School Secretarial Stang ............................................. 15
Appendix ................................................................................................19
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ABOUT FCMAT
About FCMAT
FCMAT’s primary mission is to assist California’s local K-14 educational agencies to identify,
prevent, and resolve nancial, human resources and data management challenges. FCMAT
provides scal and data management assistance, professional development training, product
development and other related school business and data services. FCMAT’s scal and manage-
ment assistance services are used not just to help avert scal crisis, but to promote sound nancial
practices, support the training and development of chief business ocials and help to create
ecient organizational operations. FCMAT’s data management services are used to help local
educational agencies (LEAs) meet state reporting responsibilities, improve data quality, and
inform instructional program decisions.
FCMAT may be requested to provide scal crisis or management assistance by a school district,
charter school, community college, county oce of education, the state Superintendent of Public
Instruction, or the Legislature.
When a request or assignment is received, FCMAT assembles a study team that works closely
with the LEA to dene the scope of work, conduct on-site eldwork and provide a written report
with ndings and recommendations to help resolve issues, overcome challenges and plan for the
future.
FCMAT has continued to make adjustments in the types of support provided based on the changing
dynamics of K-14 LEAs and the implementation of major educational reforms.
92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Studies by Fiscal Year
Number of Studies
FCMAT also develops and provides numerous publications, software tools, workshops and
professional development opportunities to help LEAs operate more eectively and fulll their scal
oversight and data management responsibilities. e California School Information Services (CSIS)
division of FCMAT assists the California Department of Education with the implementation of
the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). CSIS also hosts and
maintains the Ed-Data website (www.ed-data.org) and provides technical expertise to the Ed-Data
partnership: the California Department of Education, EdSource and FCMAT.
FCMAT was created by Assembly Bill (AB) 1200 in 1992 to assist LEAs to meet and sustain their
nancial obligations. AB 107 in 1997 charged FCMAT with responsibility for CSIS and its state-
wide data management work. AB 1115 in 1999 codied CSIS’ mission.
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ABOUT FCMAT
AB 1200 is also a statewide plan for county oces of education and school districts to work
together locally to improve scal procedures and accountability standards. AB 2756 (2004)
provides specic responsibilities to FCMAT with regard to districts that have received emergency
state loans.
In January 2006, Senate Bill 430 (charter schools) and AB 1366 (community colleges) became
law and expanded FCMAT’s services to those types of LEAs.
Since 1992, FCMAT has been engaged to perform more than 1,000 reviews for LEAs, including
school districts, county oces of education, charter schools and community colleges. e Kern
County Superintendent of Schools is the administrative agent for FCMAT. e team is led by
Joel D. Montero, Chief Executive Ocer, with funding derived through appropriations in the
state budget and a modest fee schedule for charges to requesting agencies.
Kerman Unified School diStrict
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INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Background
e Kerman Unied School District is located in the San Joaquin Valley approximately 18 miles
west of Fresno and has an enrollment of approximately 5,000 students. e district is composed
of one comprehensive high school, one continuation high school, one middle school and four
elementary schools. It encompasses a geographical area of approximately 200 square miles.
Approximately 88% of the district’s students qualify for free or reduced-price meals under the
National School Lunch Program.
Study and Report Guidelines
FCMAT visited the district on October 25 and 26, 2016 to conduct interviews, collect data and
review documents. is report is the result of those activities and is divided into the following
sections:
I. Executive Summary
II. Organizational Structure
III. Business Department
IV. Human Resources Department
V. KermanHighSchoolSecretarialStafng
In writing its reports, FCMAT uses the Associated Press Stylebook, a comprehensive guide to
usage and accepted style that emphasizes conciseness and clarity. In addition, this guide empha-
sizes plain language, discourages the use of jargon and capitalizes relatively few terms.
Study Team
e study team was composed of the following members:
Eric D. Smith, MPA Greig Welch
FCMAT Intervention Specialist FCMAT Consultant
Templeton, CA Paso Robles, CA
John Lotze
FCMAT Technical Writer
Bakerseld, CA
Each team member reviewed the draft report to conrm its accuracy and to achieve consensus on
the nal recommendations.
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Kerman Unified School diStrict
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive Summary
FCMAT conducted an organizational and stang review to provide the district’s governing
board and administration with an independent and external review of its business oce stang,
and human resources and high school secretarial stang, and to provide recommendations for
improved eciency.
e district’s Business Department lacks an up-to-date organizational chart. is document is
needed to identify the chain of command and the responsibility for functional areas for each sta
member. e district has only one payroll position for approximately 470 employees, and none
of the other business oce sta are cross-trained on payroll. In FCMAT’s experience, typical
stang is two payroll positions for every 500 employees, thus the Business Department is under-
staed.
e Business Department needs to build more organizational capacity. Several business oce
sta members indicated they would like to know how their tasks relate to the overall function
and mission of the department.
e span of control for the director of scal services is too broad in function; the number of
employees supervised may not be excessive, but the number of functions overseen is unmanage-
able. e Business Department needs a management-level supervisorial position that supervises
some of the scal services employees and reports to the director of scal services. Creating such a
position would alleviate some of the workload of the director of scal services and could provide
an opportunity for line sta to move up in the organization.
e Business Department needs to update its procedure manuals. Up-to-date procedure manuals
are important for maintaining proper internal controls and providing a better understanding
of the responsibilities of each position. It is a best practice for manuals to include step-by-step
procedures for most job duties.
e Business Department needs to systematically evaluate tasks and functions to determine
whether they are still relevant or needed. e department should implement the management
principle known as planned abandonment, which involves systematically evaluating tasks to
determine whether they are still relevant. is would allow the department to comprehensively
assess its functions and determine whether any can be replaced by new initiatives that are busi-
ness oce or district priorities.
A survey of high schools of similar size indicates that the high school is understaed in clerical
positions. Moreover, there is minimal clerical assistance for athletics, and only 0.25 full-time
equivalent (FTE) clerical assistance for the Regional Occupational Program (ROP), which is
provided by an employee who also has many other duties. e high school should add one and a
half (1.5) clerical positions to help the counseling sta and the ROP, and to perform some duties
now performed by the athletics secretary. A portion of one of these positions could be charged to
ROP.
Kerman High School serves a large number of limited English speaking parents and community
members, but only three of its six clerical sta are fully bilingual, which makes it dicult to
communicate with and help all parents and community members. e district should make every
eort to attract bilingual candidates for its clerical positions.
e district should consider converting its existing counseling areas into a classroom and adding
a counseling center to the new two-story building it is constructing.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
High school clerical sta enter most student registration information by hand, which is
time-consuming and unnecessary. e high school should use its Aeries student information
system to enable online student registration.
e Human Resources Department should add a receptionist position. In addition to answering
phones and acting as the rst point of contact in the district oce, this position could assume
responsibility for processing eld trips, mail and travel and conference requests.
e Human Resources Department processes all requests for intradistrict and interdistrict trans-
fers. Typically, most requests for transfer are for academic purposes, so it would be more ecient
and eective for the district’s educational services sta to handle these duties. is would also
allow human resources sta to spend more time on personnel matters and practices.
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Findings and Recommendations
Organizational Structure
All school districts should be staed according to the basic theories of organizational structure
used in other school agencies of similar size and type. e most common of these theories are
span of control, chain of command, and line and sta authority.
Span of Control
Span of control refers to the number of subordinates who report directly to a supervisor.
Although there is no agreed-upon ideal number of subordinates for span of control, the span can
be larger at lower levels of an organization than at higher levels because subordinates at lower
levels typically perform more routine duties and therefore require less supervision.
Chain of Command
Chain of command refers to the ow of authority within an organization. Chain of command
is characterized by two guiding principles: unity of command, meaning that a subordinate is
accountable to only one supervisor; and the scalar principle, meaning that subordinates at every
level in the organization follow the chain of command and only communicate through their
immediate supervisor. e result is a hierarchical division of labor in the organization.
Line and Staff Authority
e organizational structure of local school agencies has both line and sta authority. Line
authority is the relationship between supervisors and subordinates and refers to the direct line in
the chain of command. For example, a district superintendent has direct line authority over the
chief business ocial, and the chief business ocial has direct line authority over the business
oce, and so on. Conversely, sta authority is advisory in nature. Sta personnel do not have
the authority to make and implement policy decisions; rather, they act in support roles to line
personnel.
A school district’s organizational structure establishes the framework and the delegation of
specic responsibilities and duties for all sta members. FCMAT’s review found that the district’s
Business Department lacks an up-to-date organizational chart. An organizational chart is
important because it shows the structure and the relationship of all positions to one another. is
document is also necessary to identify the chain of command and the functional areas for which
each sta member is responsible.
Recommendation
e district should:
1. Create an organizational chart that identies all business oce positions and
the chain of command.
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BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Business Department
Business Department Organization
e Business Department is under the direction of the assistant superintendent of business, who
is the district’s chief business ocial (CBO), and is staed with one administrative secretary to
the CBO, one director of scal services, three nancial technicians (who are classied as con-
dential employees), and one nancial clerk. e department is staed with the same number of
employees it had when the district was created in 1983.
Several Business Department sta members indicated they would like to know how their tasks
relate to the department’s overall function and mission. is is an indicator that the department
needs to build more organizational capacity.
Organizational capacity can be measured in several ways; however, it is usually determined
by the resources and conditions necessary to be eective. e publication Capacity for Public
Administration: Analysis of Meaning and Measurement, by Robert K. Christiansen and Beth
Gazley, explains that capacity is an organization’s ability to perform work. In the public sector,
the term means the government’s ability to “marshal, develop, direct and control” its nancial,
human, physical and information resources.
e district can increase the organizational capacity of its Business Department in several
ways. e department’s procedure manuals need to be updated; this would help maintain and
strengthen proper internal controls and provide a better understanding of the responsibilities of
each position and how each position aects others. It is a best practice to ensure manuals include
step-by-step procedures for most job duties.
e Business Department will also need to continue its commitment to professional develop-
ment for its employees. Increasing the knowledge and skill of existing employees will make the
department better equipped to confront future challenges.
e Business Department needs to systematically evaluate tasks and functions to determine
whether they are still relevant or needed. is is a management principle known as planned
abandonment and can increase an organization’s eciency and eectiveness. Conducting such
a review and evaluation would allow the department to comprehensively assess its functions
and determine whether any can be replaced by new initiatives that are department or district
priorities. One example of planned abandonment is to review what records need to be retained
and in what format. It may benet the department and the district to investigate the feasibility of
using an outside contractor to scan permanent records rather than keeping them in paper format,
and to consult the California Association of School Business Ocials’ Records Retention Manual to
identify which records must be kept permanently and which may be destroyed.
Recommendations
e district should:
1. Update its procedure manuals for each position in the business oce.
2. Continue its commitment to the professional development of its employees.
3. Implement the management principle known as planned abandonment:
systematically evaluate tasks to determine whether they are still relevant.
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BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
4. Investigate the feasibility of using an outside contractor to scan permanent
records rather than keeping them in paper format.
5. Consult the California Association of School Business Ocials’ Records Retention
Manual to identify which records must be kept permanently and which may
be destroyed.
Business Department Stafng
e district’s CBO has been with the district for the past three years and previously served as the
chief operations ocer at another school district. Five management sta report directly to the
CBO: the director of scal services, the director of maintenance and operations, the supervisor
of transportation, the supervisor of instructional support center/print shop, and the coordinator
of food services. e CBO has overall responsibility for the district’s business and operations
functions, including facility planning and construction.
e CBO serves on the boards of the district’s workers compensation and property and liability
joint powers authorities and is a member of the district team that negotiates with its classied
employees’ bargaining unit but not part of the team that negotiates with the certicated
employees’ bargaining unit. It is common practice in many school districts to have the CBO
serve as a resource to the chief negotiators on both the certicated and classied negotiating
teams. is also increases the CBO’s credibility with labor with regard to the district’s nancial
position.
e administrative secretary to the CBO has been in this position for six years and performs a
variety of tasks integral to the department’s function. ese include, but are not limited to, the
following:
• Collecting developer fees.
• Processing use of facilities requests.
• Filing theft and vandalism reports.
• Processing American Institute of Architects (AIA) payments (also known as progress
billing payments).
• Completing change order requests.
• Processing notices to proceed and notices of completion on public works projects.
• Processing the leases for photocopy machines and for temporary classrooms.
• Preparing correspondence for the CBO.
• Interacting with the property and liability joint powers authority on claims.
• Processing public records requests.
• Preparing agenda items for board meetings and for the general obligation bond
community oversight committee.
e administrative secretary processes use of facilities request for community use of buildings
manually. e district uses School Dude, an automated work order system, to process its work
order requests, and School Dude also has a use of facilities component that enables users to
automate use of facilities requests. It would benet the department to use this automated system.
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BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
If the district does not already have the use of facilities component in its version of School Dude,
it would be benecial to consider adding it for the Business Department’s use.
e director of scal services has been in the current position for nine years, and previously
worked in management-level positions in a variety of school districts in the Central Valley.
e director is responsible for budget development and monitoring, preparing state-mandated
reports, and overseeing payroll, purchasing, accounts receivable, accounts payable and miscella-
neous accounting functions of the business oce. is employee also serves as the district’s de
facto director of child nutrition.
e span of control for the director of scal services is too broad in function; the number of
employees supervised may not be excessive, but the number of functions overseen is unmanage-
able. e district needs to consider creating a mid-level management position that reports to the
director of scal services and supervises and evaluates some line sta. is position could also
assume responsibility for position control, budget checking, journal entries, budget transfers, and
other miscellaneous accounting transactions. Creating such a position would relieve the director
of excessive responsibilities in these areas, and it would provide a promotional position and
opportunity for line sta.
e director of scal services acts as the de facto director of child nutrition. is runs counter to
basic theories of organizational structure because the district already has a coordinator of food
services who reports directly to the assistant superintendent of business. e scalar principle
dictates that subordinates at every level follow the chain of command and only communicate
through their immediate supervisor. Because the coordinator of food services does not report to
the director of scal services, the current reporting structure is at odds with this principle. e
district needs to reexamine the reporting structure for managers in the child nutrition depart-
ment and bring them into functional alignment.
e nancial technician in charge of payroll has been with the district for three years and had
not worked in a school district prior to this. is employee is responsible for all of the district’s
payroll functions for its 241 certicated and 228 classied employees, including meeting with
every newly hired employee and establishing their pay screens on the nancial system. No other
business oce sta are cross-trained on payroll.
In FCMAT’s experience, payroll should be staed with two payroll positions for every 500
employees. It would benet the district to create an additional nancial technician position
for payroll. e district could divide the workload between the two nancial technicians by
employees’ last names alphabetically, or by giving one technician classied employees and the
other certicated employees. Each of the nancial technicians for payroll should be cross-trained
in the other’s duties.
e nancial technician for payroll tracks all positions manually on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
based on placement information received on the district’s position control form 5108. e tech-
nician balances the position control data with payroll monthly. e district does not track extra
time, overtime or coaching stipends in position control but is preparing to do so.
e Fresno County Oce of Education’s Everest nancial system has a position control compo-
nent that the district is not fully using. Keeping spreadsheets up to date is time-consuming and
greatly increases the risk of human error. In addition, these documents are not integrated with
the payroll or budget system, resulting in the need to keep multiple documents up to date, which
can be dicult.
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BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Having budget, payroll and personnel services sta use a single position control system would
eliminate duplication of work and make budget development and monitoring more eective and
accurate. Sucient training in and use of the Everest position control module would also elimi-
nate the need for spreadsheets and make information available more quickly.
e nancial clerk in charge of accounts payable has been with the district for one year. is
employee is responsible for processing invoices, paying vendors, preparing sales tax reports, and
performing year-end accounting functions such as processing 1099s. Because this employee is
new to the district, it is important that they have ongoing access to professional development to
increase skills.
e nancial technician responsible for health and welfare insurance for district employees has
been in this position for three years and has been with the district for four and one half years,
having previously served as the district’s nancial clerk for accounts payable. is employee is
responsible for all aspects of administering the district’s 33 health and welfare benet plans.
e district allows each employee group — certicated, classied and management/condential
— access to 11 medical plans including preferred provider organizations, health maintenance
organizations, and high-deductible plans. FCMAT’s review revealed that there are ve or fewer
certicated employees on ve plans, ve or fewer classied employees on seven plans, and ve
or fewer management/condential employees on eight plans. ere were also two plans with no
classied employees on the plan, and three plans with no management/condential employees
on the plan. Administering several health and welfare benet plans such that some have only
a few employees enrolled is not a cost-eective use of business oce sta. It would benet the
district to establish a minimum number of management/condential employees a plan must
have enrolled, and negotiate with the respective bargaining units for similar minimums for its
classied and certicated employees.
e nancial technician in charge of purchasing has been with the district for 29 years. e
district processes purchase requisitions manually, including through approval, and then the nan-
cial technician creates purchase orders using the Everest nancial system.
e district has not implemented any formal purchasing policies or guidelines, and sta
indicated they did not know whether there was any district requirement to obtain quotes for
purchases costing less than the minimum at which competitive bidding is required. e district
needs to prepare and distribute a purchasing handbook to all sta responsible for any aspect
of purchasing. It is best practice to ensure that such a handbook explains in detail the district’s
guidelines for purchasing and the consequences for employees who circumvent the process.
e nancial technician tracks purchase orders in a three-ring binder, and because the approval
process is manual it is not integrated with the nancial system. It would benet the district to
use the online purchasing module, which is available in the Everest nancial system. is would
make the purchasing process more visible, more ecient and more accountable, with an inte-
grated authorization process that includes specic approval paths for each purchase order.
e employee in the supervisor of instructional support center/print shop position has been with
the district for 14 years and in this position for the last 15 months. is employee is responsible
for the district’s central warehouse and print shop. For school supplies, the district relies heavily
on three vendors: Amazon, School Specialty and Oce Depot. Although supplies may be
ordered online, all supply orders are received and recorded at the warehouse before being distrib-
uted to the schools.
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BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
To reduce costs and improve eciency, many school districts in California have implemented
just-in-time inventory systems, which are available through some vendors. e requestor enters
orders online, and items are shipped the next day directly to the requestor’s site. is eliminates
the need to ship most classroom and oce supply orders to the warehouse, and the need for
warehouse sta to process and deliver classroom and oce supply orders to sites. It also reduces
inventory-carrying costs, and sites receive their requested supplies much faster. It would benet
the district to consider using just-in-time supply and delivery. e warehouse would still need to
stock paper and custodial supplies because these items often can be obtained at far better prices
when purchased in bulk.
Most print jobs are received in the print shop via written work order. A teacher or sta member
lls out an order form specifying the number of copies and nishing options, such as staple or
three-hole punch, and the form goes in the interoce mail, which sometimes results in delays. It
would benet the district to automate print job requests by enabling schools and departments to
place and track the progress of their printing orders online. In addition, providing the print shop
work order protocols online would help the sites and departments to properly ll out work orders
and avoid delays.
Recommendations
The district should:
1. Ensure that the CBO is at the negotiating table and serves as a resource to the
chief negotiators on both the certicated and classied negotiating teams.
2. Implement the School Dude use of facilities component to automate use of
facilities requests.
3. Create a mid-level management position that reports to the director of scal
services and supervises and evaluates some of the department’s line sta.
is position should also assume the responsibility for position control,
budget checking, journal entries, budget transfers, and other miscellaneous
accounting transactions.
4. Reexamine the reporting structure for managers in the child nutrition depart-
ment and bring them into alignment with the chain of command.
5. Create an additional nancial technician for payroll, and ensure that the two
nancial technicians for payroll are each cross-trained in the other’s duties.
6. Establish a minimum number of management/condential employees that
must be enrolled for a medical plan to be oered, and negotiate similar mini-
mums with the bargaining units for classied and certicated employees.
7. Work with the Fresno County Oce of Education to fully implement the
integrated position control module of the Everest nancial system.
8. Implement electronic purchasing available on the Everest nancial system.
9. Prepare and distribute a purchasing handbook to all sta responsible for any
aspect of purchasing.
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BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
10. Implement just-in-time inventory for school supplies rather than using the
central warehouse for these items. Continue to stock paper and custodial
supplies in the central warehouse.
11. Investigate the feasibility of having schools and departments initiate work
orders for print jobs online, and provide each school and department with the
print shop’s work order protocols.
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HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
Human Resources Department
e district’s Human Resources Department includes an assistant superintendent and three
full-time clerical support sta: a certicated personnel specialist II, a classied/pupil personnel
specialist I, and a secretary II. e department is located immediately inside the main entrance of
the district oce.
Employees in the Human Resources Department work cooperatively and help each other when
needed, performing a multitude of tasks and assignments. e department’s employees are highly
capable, are cross-trained in the basics of each other’s tasks and duties, and ll in when necessary.
Clerical sta in the department and throughout the district spend a signicant amount of time
ling paperwork and keeping les current. Having this paperwork in electronic format would
free clerical sta to handle more pressing tasks. Many districts hire outside providers to scan
documents into electronic format and realize increased eciencies as a result.
e department performs standard personnel-related tasks as well as a number of other tasks. For
example, the secretary II also acts as a receptionist, greeting visitors and answering phone calls,
coordinates eld trips, processes workers’ compensation claims and sta conference requests, and
is responsible for sta absence tracking. It would benet the district and the department to add
a receptionist position to the department and have this employee perform some duties such as
processing eld trips, mail and conference requests in addition to answering phones and acting as
the rst point of contact in the district oce,
e district is growing, and as a result the hiring processes for both classied and certicated
personnel takes up more of the department’s time each year. Much of what is done in human
resources is condential, including much paperwork and many telephone and face-to-face
conversations with current and prospective employees. e department’s location near the front
entrance of the district oce is not conducive to the condentiality needed for these functions.
e department processes all requests for intradistrict and interdistrict transfers. Typically, most
requests for transfer are for academic purposes, so it would be more appropriate for the district’s
educational services employees to handle these requests. is would allow Human Resources
Department sta to spend more time on personnel matters and practices.
e Human Resources Department needs to continue its commitment to professional develop-
ment for its employees. Increasing the knowledge and skill of existing employees will result in the
department’s sta being better prepared to confront challenges in the future.
Recommendations
e district should:
1. Continue to ensure that existing and new clerical support sta are provided
with ongoing training so they may support the district’s and the department’s
mission and expected outcomes.
2. Evaluate the feasibility of changing the Human Resources Department’s
location in the district oce to one that allows privacy for condential docu-
ments and communications. Until such a change is made, seek to create areas
in the existing space that allow for condentiality.
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HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
3. Consider hiring an outside vendor to scan and le documents electronically
so they are accessible via computers.
4. Add a receptionist to the district oce sta and recongure the duties of the
Human Resources Department secretary to include standard human resources
department functions. e receptionist would be responsible for answering
phones and acting as the rst point of contact in the district oce, and could
assume responsibility for processing eld trips, mail and conference requests.
5. Move responsibility for handling interdistrict and intradistrict transfer
requests from the Human Resources Department to the Educational Services
Department.
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KERMAN HIGH SCHOOL SECRETARIAL STAFFING
Kerman High School Secretarial Stafng
e clerical sta of Kerman High School consists of an oce manager/senior secretary, a
registrar, an attendance clerk, an associated student body clerk, and a counseling secretary. Job
descriptions for each of the positions are in place and up to date. e main high school oce
area will be relocated to a new two-story building when construction is completed.
Kerman High School serves a large number of limited English speaking parents and community
members. Currently three of the ve clerical sta are fully bilingual. During peak hours of need it
is dicult to eectively communicate and assist all parents and community members who need
bilingual support. is diculty increases when a sta member is away from a work station or is
not available due to other tasks.
e high school clerical sta are experienced and serve the school’s sta, parents, community
members and 1,375 students. Because several sta members are crossed-trained, they can help
others in the oce and cover for them when needed. However, with the exception of an addi-
tional 0.25 full-time equivalent (FTE) position last school year, the clerical sta is the same size
as it was when the school had 500 students. e school’s enrollment is expected to continue to
increase for the foreseeable future.
e locations of work stations, desk and counter space that the clerical sta use do not allow
for a smooth trac ow for students, parents, and sta. Privacy of information, documents and
computer screens are not sucient or standard for each secretary’s work area. is limits the
clerical sta’s ability to be as eective and ecient as possible.
e clerical sta have expertise and experience with the day-to-day trac ow in the oces,
potential blind spots, and alignment of workstations. is knowledge can be invaluable in
helping create a more ecient and useful layout in the new building being constructed.
e Counseling Department is a signicant distance from the high school’s main oce. As a
result, it is dicult for one clerical employee in counseling to have coverage when they are away
from their desk. Additional clerical support is needed in counseling to rectify this situation; it
is important to have clerical coverage in the counseling department whenever students are on
campus.
ere is no clerical assistance for athletics, and only 0.25 FTE clerical assistance for the Regional
Occupational Program (ROP), which is provided by an employee who also has many other
duties. It would be more ecient to have one position that provides clerical support for both
athletics and ROP, with ROP funding paying for the ROP portion of the position.
Clerical sta enter most student registration information by hand, which is time-consuming and
unnecessary; the Aeries student database system that the district uses has a scheduling module
that can be added to allow high school students to select their classes for the following year
online.
Recommendations
e district should:
1. Make every eort to ensure that any new clerical sta hired are bilingual.
is will improve the school’s ability to communicate with a large number
of parents and community members who come to campus or call and have
limited English skills.
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KERMAN HIGH SCHOOL SECRETARIAL STAFFING
2. Seek input from all high school clerical sta before deciding on the nal
design and layout of oce and counseling center spaces in the new building
being constructed.
3. Once the new building is constructed, convert the existing counseling area to
a classroom.
4. Create a full-time position that provides clerical assistance in athletics and for
ROP, and charge .25 FTE of the position to ROP
5. Assign a clerical position to work in the counseling department as needed to
ensure continuous coverage.
6. Implement and use the online registration and scheduling module available
for Aeries.
Clerical Stafng Comparison
FCMAT used school districts and high schools of similar size to Kerman Unied for the below
comparison, as well as specic districts identied by the administration. It is dicult to compare
clerical stang and assignments among dierent high schools and school districts because
individual circumstances, position titles and classications and other factors can vary signicantly
from one district to another. For the purposes of this study, comparisons were based on the
number of positions per unit of average daily attendance (ADA); using this as a standard criterion
allows for a practical and reasonable comparison of similar-sized school districts and high schools.
Comparison of Similar-Sized High Schools
School Enrollment
Number of Clerical
Positions
ADA per Clerical
Position
Sonoma Valley HS 1296 3.00 432.00
Banning HS 1111 3.00 370.33
Benicia HS 1664 5.00 332.80
Kerman HS 1395 5.00 279.00
Oak Park HS 1542 6.00 257.00
Santa Paula HS 1588 6.50 244.30
Paradise HS 1083 5.00 216.60
Alameda HS 1718 8.50 202 .11
Orosi HS 1045 5.50 190.00
Coalinga HS 118 3 6.63 178.43
San Lorenzo Valley HS 702 4.25 165.17
Atascadero HS 1331 8.75 152 .11
Tehachapi HS 1272 9.00 141.33
Fillmore HS 962 6.94 138.61
Burroughs HS 1403 10.14 138.36
Amador HS 645 6.50 99.23
La Cañada HS 2075 10.41 219.80
Average 218.87
(Source: DataQuest 2015-16 and Ed-Data 2015-16)
Kerman Unified School diStrict
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KERMAN HIGH SCHOOL SECRETARIAL STAFFING
Based on the comparative data above, Kerman High School should currently have 6.373 FTE
clerical sta (current enrollment of 1,395 divided by the average of 218.87 ADA per clerical
position at surveyed schools). is does not take into account future expected student enrollment
increases.
Comparison of Similar-Sized School Districts
District Enrollment
Number of Clerical
Positions
ADA per Clerical
Position
San Lorenzo Valley USD 4613 21.29 216.67
Oak Park USD 4693 25.50 184.03
Cutler-Orosi USD 4083 23.91 170.76
Kerman USD 5034 33.50 150.26
Benicia USD 4924 33.00 149.21
La Canada USD 4058 27.7 7 146.12
Sonoma Valley USD 4635 33.03 140.32
Tehachapi USD 4272 31.00 137.8 0
Atascadero USD 4722 35.06 134.68
Santa Paula USD 5459 41.25 132.33
Banning USD 4599 35.81 128.42
Paradise USD 4265 37.03 115.17
Coalinga-Huron USD 4367 36.63 119. 21
Fillmore USD 3774 34.85 108.32
Sierra Sands USD 4944 50.28 98.32
Amador USD 3624 37.07 97.76
Del Norte USD 3502 39.19 83.35
Average 136.04
(Source: DataQuest 2015-16 and Ed-Data 2015-16)
Kerman Unied School District has a higher ADA per clerical FTE position than the average of
the 17 comparison school districts. e district could add 1.0 FTE at the district oce and 1.5
FTE at the high school and still have a clerical stang level lower than many of the comparable
districts.
Comparable Districts Requested by Kerman USD
District Enrollment
Number of Clerical
Positions
ADA per Clerical
Position
Central USD 15,717 160.71 97.79
Kings Canyon USD 9,717 82.45 117. 85
Madera USD 20,530 174.19 117. 84
Oakdale USD 5,300 42.38 125.05
Sanger USD 11,438 95.50 119.76
Selma USD 6,541 53.79 121.60
Kerman USD 5,034 33.50 150.26
Average 115 . 5 6
(Source: DataQuest 2015-16 and Ed-Data 2015-16)
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KERMAN HIGH SCHOOL SECRETARIAL STAFFING
Comparable High Schools Requested by Kerman USD
High School Enrollment
Number of Clerical
Positions
ADA per Clerical
Position
Central 4,142 12.00 345.16
Reedley 1,737 9.59 181.12
Madera 2,138 17.51 122.10
Oakdale 1,605 9.00 178. 33
Sanger 2,852 12.75 223.68
Selma 1,784 7.44 239.78
Kerman 1,395 5.00 279.00
Average 211.41
(Source: DataQuest 2015-16 and Ed-Data 2015-16)
Recommendations
e district should:
1. Add 1.0 FTE clerical sta at Kerman High School based on the comparison
of similar high schools.
2. Add 0.5 FTE of clerical sta charged to ROP to assist with ROP functions,
allow for better alignment and adjustment of assignments, tasks and coverage,
and better meet the needs resulting from increased enrollment.
Kerman Unified School diStrict
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APPENDIX
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Appendix
Study Agreement
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