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NKC Schools
DA District Administration
Harness the workforce to create normalcy for students
How North Kansas City Schools has focused on maximizing and supporting its total workforce, including non-teaching staff.
Tanya Hirsch and Rob Tibbs
December 9, 2020
North Kansas City Schools (NKC Schools) has been back in session for a
little more than two months. Grades K-5 are learning in person five
days a week, and more than two-thirds of students in grades 6-12 are
doing a hybrid—two days of in-person classes, three days of remote
learning—while the remaining third opted for full-time distance
learning. Student activities are also up and running.
For Missouri’s third-largest school district, fall re-opening plans
centered on getting things back to “normal” for its 21,000 students,
arming teachers for success across multiple learning scenarios, and
putting processes in place to mitigate risk for students, staff, and
families—and to put them at ease.
“To ensure a smooth semester amid threats that spiking cases of
COVID-19 could push our schools back into a fully virtual scenario, NKC
Schools has taken a thoughtful approach to maximizing and supporting
our total workforce, including non-teaching staff,” says Tanya Hirsch,
the district’s payroll coordinator. “Ensuring all staff members’ needs
are met and their livelihoods are protected are among our chief
concerns—and technology aids this effort.”
Increasing support for non-teacher staff
Despite district-wide understaffing, classes and student programs are
thriving. This is in large credit to the district’s all-hands effort to
make the school year as normal and enriching as possible for students.
“We have been hyper-focused on making sure that our non-teaching staff
feels supported throughout all of this,” says Hirsch. “These are
employees who serve essential functions that are necessary to keep our
schools running.”
That’s right: No matter what the remainder of the school year brings,
students still need to eat. Foodservice staff are preparing breakfast
and lunch for in-person and remote learners (who can order online and
come pickup), and in September 2020 only saw a 24% drop in meals served
over September 2019.
Transportation staff provide another essential service and are back to
running their full routes despite the drop in in-person attendance. But
special considerations were needed to ensure this departments’ safety:
“To avoid clustering in our transportation hubs around the timeclocks,
we found a technology that allows our drivers to effectively ‘punch in’
to their shift once they board their bus, and transmits the data back
to our district-wide workforce management system,” comments Hirsch.
“It’s a necessary solution for this new COVID era. It’s a move that
encourages social distancing and is protecting our drivers and their
riders.”
Getting granular with workforce management technology
How a district manages its workforce can impact everything from budget
to engagement—both of which have never been more important. Technically
speaking, NKC Schools uses a district-wide workforce management system
for tracking employee time, leave, and accruals. Historically this
process has been fully automated but has become far more intensive in
recent months as multiple new COVID-related pay codes have been added
to the system.
“We have added six new pay codes in the past month,” says Hirsch,
emphasizing that this is a significant increase compared to the prior
six years during which time her team had added just a single new pay
code. The new pay codes account for things like HR-approved
work-from-home assignments or tracking time in accordance with the
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) or the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
In order to apply federal and state funds to provide emergency paid
sick leave (EPSL), the district is working hard to educate staff about
how to properly code their time-off. The district leave specialist is
helping this effort by calling staff and explaining the process to
them. At the same time, payroll administrators are reviewing timecards
for potential errors and making corrections where needed to ensure
staff members aren’t using their personal days if they did in fact take
time off to get tested.
“It’s important that staff are paid accurately and that we are able to
properly maximize the funding at our disposal. That’s the bottom line,
and that’s what our workforce management technology is helping us
achieve,” adds Hirsch.
Easing concerns through contact tracing and case management
To date, the North Kansas City School District has had a relatively
smooth start to the school year. As of October 31, student attendance
is at 91% and staff attendance is at 93.7%. A COVID-19 dashboard is
updated every Friday by the district to identify the total number of
“new student positive cases” and “new staff positive cases,” as well as
week-over-week metrics for students and staff required to stay home.
The data also highlights whether exposures were thought to have taken
place on- or off-campus.
The district’s health coordinator—a new role created this year with
grant funds—helps to oversee these metrics and is the point person for
all school buildings should someone report symptoms. This role manages
the complex responsibilities of contact tracing for the district,
including notification procedures.
Looking ahead, NKC Schools will continue to monitor engagement and
follow guidance from its principals, cabinet, and COVID-19 gating
criteria committee as they chart a safe path forward for staff,
students, and families. “We’ve laid the groundwork for a successful
school year and our staff remains agile in their ability to change
course as needed. Like every other school district in America, we’re
doing the best we can,” concludes Hirsch.
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