Managing Time and People
In 2013, the adoption of an automated workforce management system alleviated the task of managing time, people, and compliance across the district. Daily timekeeping records for hourly and salaried employees has streamlined payroll processes, improved workforce productivity, and mitigated former compliance challenges, particularly regarding the Affordable Care Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and local wage and hour rules.
Although teachers and staff in Jefferson County have willingly given personal time to help their school—whether volunteering to cover a colleague’s after-school shift or staying late to assist with a school project—allowing employees to work beyond their scheduled shift without pay puts the district at risk. By requiring teachers and staff to log all their time in the system, Jefferson County Schools is able to monitor employee overtime as well as teacher extra duty time, pay employees appropriately for the hours they work, and ultimately mitigate liability.
Meeting Reporting Requirements
Outside of day-to-day timekeeping, the district’s workforce management system is helping administrators meet important state and federal reporting requirements as well. For example, because the district receives federal funding for various child nutrition programs—each paid for with different pools of federal funding—labor costs must be allocated to the appropriate federal program for accounting purposes.
But keeping track of how many hours employees have spent on grant-funded activities can be difficult, especially if those employees have multiple roles and responsibilities. If a food service employee works the lunch shift and then stays to serve dinner for the district’s At-Risk Dinner Program, these hours must be documented separately.
Because Jefferson County Schools has real-time access to actual labor hours, data also support annual state reporting requirements on teacher attendance related to Alabama’s Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP). It’s a light lift for the district to deliver exactly what the state needs to improve instructional programs that directly affect the achievement of all students across Alabama.
Additionally, the data trends captured through this system have revealed strategic insights that could have a significant impact on students and overall learning outcomes.
Data Leads to Discussion
Analyzing district-wide labor data—specifically, teacher absences—has enabled Jefferson County Schools to uncover myriad data trends. For example, administrators have noticed a consistent and significant uptick each year in teacher absence on the Friday before the first weekend in November—the date of Jefferson County’s annual Christmas Village Festival, a local tradition that over the years has generated such a surge in teacher absence that the district has not had enough substitutes to cover vacant classrooms. A similar absence trend is seen on Fridays during football season.
Employee absences are tracked year over year by the district’s workforce management system and classified by type of leave—e.g., sick, personal, vacation, professional development, jury duty, military, field trip, and so on. Based on these classifications, administrators are able to identify spikes in absence resulting from on-the-job injury. It is worth noting that this type of leave is less common among teachers but more prevalent among food service staff using hot equipment.
Analyzing trends in absences has led to strategic discussions among district leaders regarding such topics as safety improvements to limit workplace injury and improve the at-work experience for the district’s 325 food service employees.
Analyzing trends in absence has led to strategic discussions among district leaders: Should the Friday before the Christmas Village Festival be an official staff holiday so students don’t miss out on valuable classroom time with a certified teacher? Could certain policies prevent increased absence during football games? What safety improvements can be made in cafeterias to limit workplace injury and improve the at-work experience for the district’s 325 food service employees?
These and similar discussions, driven by labor data, are the first step toward improving operational effectiveness in and out of the classroom.
Keeping Teachers in the Classroom
One of the most interesting labor trends uncovered by Jefferson County Schools points to a 20%–30% year-over-year increase in teachers requesting leave for professional development. An analysis of teacher absences recorded over three years tracks the steady increase:
- 2016–2017: 5,691 days requested
- 2017–2018: 6,220 days requested
- 2018–2019: 7,798 days requested
(For comparison, the total number of recorded “sick” and “personal” absences have remained fairly steady over the same three-year period.)
This increase in professional development leave is justified by the fact that teachers are required to update their skills and knowledge to meet Alabama requirements as well as those to participate in federal programs such as grant-funded child nutrition programs. However, this particular set of data raised critical questions among school leaders.
Although there are certainly benefits to developing teachers professionally, is it worth taking a certified teacher out of the classroom? In many ways professional development is viewed as a competitive benefit—and it’s not to be overlooked: as high attrition is known to affect students, retaining good teachers is vital. At the same time, training courses are often a state or federal requirement, and considering the impact to students, one could easily argue that encouraging teachers to leave the classroom in order to better serve their children is a wry case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Further, is professional development absence worth the offset of paying a substitute? As it stands today, schools are paying teachers to take professional development courses and paying a substitute to cover their classroom. Could it be just as cost-effective to pay teachers a nominal fee—say, $100—to take the course over the summer instead? Jefferson County Schools believes this very well may be the case.
Although the district has yet to put their method to the test, the idea that schools could incentivize teachers to take professional development courses and advance their careers without impacting student success in the classroom is a compelling one. [Editor note: For more on this topic, see David Bein’s article on page XX.]
On Track
Labor data for Jefferson County Schools supports key decisions that have enabled the district to effectively provide for the diverse needs of all learners. Administrators understand the value of maximizing student time in the classroom with certified teachers and are taking action to ensure students don’t feel the impact of teacher absence. Maintaining records of labor data additionally supports financial reporting and compliance to ensure schools receive federal and state funding, which similarly support a positive learning culture.
Jefferson County Schools appears to be on track in preparing its students to be college-and career ready.