THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

Introduction

The PEER Committee received complaints regarding Meridian Public School District's:

• contracting with an outside provider of services;
• employees' compensation for outside consulting activities;
• hiring of individuals with emergency certificates;
• administrators' pay increases;
• hiring of the superintendent's spouse; and,
• compliance with requirements of the Open Meetings Act of 1975.

PEER reviewed Meridian Public School District's records for the period April 1992 to April 1997 to determine the validity of each complaint.

Findings

Administrative Issues

Contract for Custodial, Maintenance, and Grounds Services

The Meridian Public School District entered into a five-year contract for over $1 million for limited management of custodial, maintenance, and grounds services without performing an objective analysis of its need for an outside provider. The decision to contract rather than managing these functions internally resulted in increased expenses of approximately $92,000 for the 1996-97 school year.

In 1993, the Meridian Public School District contracted with Marriott Facilities Management to provide limited management services over the district's custodial, maintenance, and grounds functions. In awarding the contract, the district did not perform an analysis of the district's needs in these areas nor did it prepare an estimate of the costs of performing these functions internally. The original contract was for approximately $233,000 annually with adjustments for inflation and the contract price for the final year of the five-year agreement is approximately $259,000.

Outside Consulting Work of Employees

Four Meridian Public School District officials working as consultants outside the district received double compensation for services performed during normal working hours during the 1996-97 school year.

Four district administrators performed consulting duties for the State Department of Education (SDE) or for a college or university during the 1996-97 school year. These consulting duties consisted of leading or participating in workshops, seminars, and training sessions. The administrators received payment from the sponsoring organization for performing these consulting duties but were not required by the Meridian Public School District to take personal leave or vacation days for the time spent performing these duties. The administrators were granted professional school business leave with pay. Therefore, these administrators received dual payment for services performed during normal working hours.

Hiring Personnel with Emergency Certificates

For the 1996-97 school year, PEER found no evidence that the Meridian Public School District favored hiring persons with emergency teaching certificates over qualified, certified teachers.

PEER received a citizen complaint alleging that the Meridian Public School District "passed over" certified teachers in favor of hiring personnel for which the district had to acquire emergency teaching certificates. PEER reviewed the sixteen positions filled by personnel with emergency teaching certificates, the internal announcements of vacant positions, and notices to the local paper advertising vacant positions. Although two of the sixteen positions were not posted internally or advertised in the local newspaper, PEER found no evidence that the Meridian Public School District favored hiring persons with emergency teaching certificates over qualified, certified teachers.

Administrators' Salary Increases

Although ten of forty-three Meridian Public School District administrators received salary increases in excess of $5,000 over a two-year period, these salary levels are based on objective criteria such as education, responsibilities, and experience and are consistent with salaries of administrators in districts of similar size.

During the 1995-96 school year, the Meridian Public School District implemented a new salary plan for administrators. The plan resulted in ten administrators receiving raises in excess of $5,000 over a two-year period and the salaries of eight administrators were frozen because their salaries were higher than the amount per the new plan. PEER compared the salaries of Meridian administrators to the salaries of administrators in the ten districts which are closest to Meridian in average daily attendance. Even after increasing under the new compensation plan, the salaries of Meridian administrators fall in the middle or lower half of the salary ranges of districts of comparable size.

Legal Issues

Possible Violation of Conflict of Interest Laws

The hiring of the Meridian Superintendent's husband as Director of Transportation may constitute a violation of conflict of interest laws.

In February 1995, the Meridian Public School Board selected Dr. Jayne Sargent as Superintendent of the Meridian Public School District. In April of that year, the board hired Mr. Joe Sargent, her spouse, to serve as the district's Director of Transportation beginning July 1, 1995. Although state law does allow some situations in which school districts may hire a relative of a supervising principal or superintendent without conflict of interest, such an employee must be a certificated employee as designated by the State Board of Education and must be in a school-based, rather than central-office-based, position.

While there is no evidence that Dr. Sargent knowingly violated state conflict of interest laws and while she went to great effort to follow an alternative method for directing recommendations regarding Mr. Sargent's employment to the Meridian School Board, these means are not recognized as legitimate under state law for the hiring of central office-based employees and may bring Dr. Sargent into conflict of interest.

Possible Violation of Open Meetings Act

During February 1997, the Meridian Public School Board held four executive sessions to discuss the search for a new superintendent. Under the Open Meetings Act of 1975, such general discussions of personnel matters are not exempted from open meetings.

Under the Open Meetings Act of 1975, the Legislature specified items which may be exempted from the requirements of open meetings and discussed by officials in executive sessions. Included in the exempted items are personnel matters relating to a specific person holding a specific position. The minutes of the Meridian School Board of Trustees record these four executive sessions as general in nature relating to the search for a new superintendent. Such general discussions of personnel matters are not exempted from requirements of the Open Meetings Act.

Recommendations

Administrative Issues

Contract for Custodial, Maintenance, and Grounds Services

1. Prior to expiration of the district's contract with Marriott in March 1998 and using existing resources, Meridian school officials should conduct a needs assessment to determine the cost of performing this service internally. After calculating the cost of performing these services internally and defining the needs of the district, the district should issue a request for proposals. The district should evaluate proposals by a predetermined method, with full documentation of the decision process. These proposals should be compared to the costs of an internal program. From this information, school officials should fully document their decision on whether to continue contracting or to perform the service internally.

Outside Consulting Work of Employees

2. Several options are available for addressing the situation of outside consulting work of district employees:

• the Legislature could pass legislation to address the situation;
• policymaking regarding this issue could continue to be left to each school district; or,
• the State Department of Education could change its policy to that of only paying for expenses.

Under either of the first two options, the following points should serve as guidelines.

A. All occasions which require personnel to be outside of their home district to lead a training session should require approval of an immediate supervisor and the superintendent. If the request involves a superintendent, approval of the school board should be required.

B. Individuals leading training outside of their home districts should have the option of either taking personal leave with pay or taking a type of administrative or professional leave without pay.

1. If individuals take personal leave with pay, they could receive payment for the training session from the sponsoring organization but days away from their district would be treated as leave days.
2. If individuals take a type of leave without pay, they could receive payment for the training session from the sponsoring organization but would not receive their regular salary.

C. Individuals could also be allowed to take a type of administrative or professional leave with pay but require that any payments above materials and expenses be remitted to their home school district.

The SDE could change its policy to paying only for mileage, materials, and expenses for overnight travel. Under this option, approval to perform the training would still be granted by the districts with individuals granted leave with pay. However, this would require individuals to prepare for training sessions on their own time without receiving any payment for such services. Districts could have the option of allowing individuals to prepare for such training during normal working hours, provided the training would also be presented to personnel in the home district.

3. The Meridian Public School Board should adopt written policies and procedures to address personnel performing consultant or training activities outside of the district. The policy should specify the procedures to follow in requesting approval of such and who should approve such activities. The Meridian School Board should consider whether it wishes to continue the practice of paying individuals for days when such individuals are receiving compensation from another source for conducting the training. The following options are available:

• A. require individuals to take personal leave with pay;
• B. require individuals to take administrative leave with pay and require that any payments above materials, mileage, and expenses be remitted to the district; or,
• C. require individuals to take administrative leave without pay.

Hiring Personnel with Emergency Certificates

4. Meridian Public School District officials should internally post and publicly advertise all job vacancies in order to exhaust all possibilities before applying for emergency certificates.

Legal Issues

Possible Violation of Conflict of Interest Laws

5. The Ethics Commission should review the hiring of the Meridian Superintendent's spouse to determine whether it constitutes a violation of conflict of interest laws.

In the future, the Meridian School Board should consider seeking guidance from the Ethics Commission and the Attorney General prior to entering into employment arrangements with a relative of a superintendent.

6. Because the Meridian Public School Board did not follow established practice for hiring non-instructional employees when extending contracts to Dr. Sargent's spouse, the State Auditor, under authority of CODE Section 7-7-211, should review the actions of the board to determine whether any actions should be brought to recover the misspent funds.

Possible Violation of Open Meetings Act

7. The Meridian Public School Board should only go into executive session to discuss personnel matters when there is a demonstrable personnel issue which fits within the scope of Section 25-41-7. The minutes should reflect the general nature of the issue.

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