[San Francisco] District declares state of emergency over teacher payroll fiasco

In San Francisco, school officials have declared an unprecedented state of emergency and announced the launch of a 60-member command centre to help fix a payroll fiasco that has left thousands of teachers and staff shorted on paychecks or without health benefits despite more than 10 months of effort to fix it, San Francisco Chronicle reports.

On November 7, superintendent Matt Wayne announced what he described as the biggest push yet to help resolve the thousands of errors, which are “bigger and more complex” than initially thought since the district adopted a new payroll system in January.

Mr Wayne refused to estimate how long it will take to fix the system or what it would cost to do so.

The declaration of a payroll state of emergency will allow the district to take drastic action, he said.

There will reportedly be daily updates on how many employee issues remain outstanding, in addition to weekly reports to the school board.

“It will take time to fix EMPower and more time to fix the underlying systems,” board President Jenny Lam said. “It pains me to say that. I’m not going to ask for patience because I know your patience is up.”

The announcement follows a ‘sick-out’ staged by more than 100 teachers last week, part of a citywide day of action by educators and staff regarding the ongoing payroll problems.

Chris Clauss - a special education teacher at George Washington High School - took part in the sick-out. Ms Clauss told the San Francisco Chronicle she was relieved that the superintendent has called a state of emergency but hoped it wasn’t just “another empty action in a series of empty statements and actions.”

“Maybe declaring a state of emergency on this will speed up the process toward resolution,” she said. “I, however, am not holding my breath for a fast resolution.”

On November 7, the San Francisco teachers union also filed an unfair labour practice charge against the district over the payroll errors, with 200 grievances reportedly documenting the failure to adhere to contractual obligations.

“Approaching the anniversary of this new payroll system’s implementation, members continue having their lives disrupted by the ongoing faults, errors and delays,” union president Cassondra Curiel wrote in a weekly newsletter. “Too many educators experience ongoing stress from anticipating errors and deciphering pay stubs. Many of us are worried about being one of the ones who doesn’t have everything we are expecting on payday.”

District officials have made a number of efforts to help address the problems, including increased payroll staffing, a designated help desk and a $2.8 million contract to bring in outside expertise.

The $14 million EMPower system replaced an antiquated paper-driven payroll process but there were bugs from the start.

“We brought in EMPower for a good reason,” Mr Wayne said, speaking in September. “We were doing processes by paper still in San Francisco in the year 2021.”

The superintendent reportedly said that the priority is to fix the problems rather than assess blame and pursue any potential legal action. He declined to respond to questions about whether the district would consider a lawsuit in the future.

The original contractor for the system was SAP and Infosys was responsible for implementation. The initial contract was for $9.5 million, which was later increased to $11.1 million and then again to $13.7 million. With the additional outside contractors, the cost now exceeds $16 million.

Company representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite the efforts of the district - including increased staffing and consultants - the outstanding problems each month continues to outnumber the problems fixed.

“It is long overdue for us to escalate this issue and take aggressive action,” Mr Wayne said at a morning news conference. “This is an emergency situation that requires extraordinary measures.”

Dan Lindheim - professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and former Oakland city manager - believes there may be several issues at play, including staff turnover and computer systems that don’t talk to each other.

However, a lot of money has gone into a payroll system that is still not working yet there are 1,000 school districts in California, not to mention cities and counties that are successfully paying employees, the professor added.

“You would hope (the companies providing the product) would make sure it works,” Professor Lindheim said. He has served on Berkeley and Oakland school district oversight committees.

However, he added that placing blame or taking legal action against the private companies now would not be wise, especially if you still need their help.

“Threatening to sue if you’re trying to get someone to help you is not usually helpful,” he said. “You sue after it’s working. That’s what I would do.”

The outside consultants hired to assess the problems and find solutions have discovered that the complications are far more deeply embedded than initially thought, Mr Wayne said, with problems spanning across several district departments, including human resources and finance, among others.

The issues have had an impact on staff morale as well as their ability to pay bills.

In one case, a school principal reportedly wrote a personal cheque for $4,500 to a teacher to help cover her rent until the district paid her for the month. Others have staged sit-ins at the district office to protest the problems.

District officials are said to have vowed to prioritise fixing errors and ensuring all district workers receive pay owed, including any interest or fees accumulated as the result of late bill payments or overdrafts.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

In San Francisco, school officials have declared an unprecedented state of emergency and announced the launch of a 60-member command centre to help fix a payroll fiasco that has left thousands of teachers and staff shorted on paychecks or without health benefits despite more than 10 months of effort to fix it, San Francisco Chronicle reports.

On November 7, superintendent Matt Wayne announced what he described as the biggest push yet to help resolve the thousands of errors, which are “bigger and more complex” than initially thought since the district adopted a new payroll system in January.

Mr Wayne refused to estimate how long it will take to fix the system or what it would cost to do so.

The declaration of a payroll state of emergency will allow the district to take drastic action, he said.

There will reportedly be daily updates on how many employee issues remain outstanding, in addition to weekly reports to the school board.

“It will take time to fix EMPower and more time to fix the underlying systems,” board President Jenny Lam said. “It pains me to say that. I’m not going to ask for patience because I know your patience is up.”

The announcement follows a ‘sick-out’ staged by more than 100 teachers last week, part of a citywide day of action by educators and staff regarding the ongoing payroll problems.

Chris Clauss - a special education teacher at George Washington High School - took part in the sick-out. Ms Clauss told the San Francisco Chronicle she was relieved that the superintendent has called a state of emergency but hoped it wasn’t just “another empty action in a series of empty statements and actions.”

“Maybe declaring a state of emergency on this will speed up the process toward resolution,” she said. “I, however, am not holding my breath for a fast resolution.”

On November 7, the San Francisco teachers union also filed an unfair labour practice charge against the district over the payroll errors, with 200 grievances reportedly documenting the failure to adhere to contractual obligations.

“Approaching the anniversary of this new payroll system’s implementation, members continue having their lives disrupted by the ongoing faults, errors and delays,” union president Cassondra Curiel wrote in a weekly newsletter. “Too many educators experience ongoing stress from anticipating errors and deciphering pay stubs. Many of us are worried about being one of the ones who doesn’t have everything we are expecting on payday.”

District officials have made a number of efforts to help address the problems, including increased payroll staffing, a designated help desk and a $2.8 million contract to bring in outside expertise.

The $14 million EMPower system replaced an antiquated paper-driven payroll process but there were bugs from the start.

“We brought in EMPower for a good reason,” Mr Wayne said, speaking in September. “We were doing processes by paper still in San Francisco in the year 2021.”

The superintendent reportedly said that the priority is to fix the problems rather than assess blame and pursue any potential legal action. He declined to respond to questions about whether the district would consider a lawsuit in the future.

The original contractor for the system was SAP and Infosys was responsible for implementation. The initial contract was for $9.5 million, which was later increased to $11.1 million and then again to $13.7 million. With the additional outside contractors, the cost now exceeds $16 million.

Company representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite the efforts of the district - including increased staffing and consultants - the outstanding problems each month continues to outnumber the problems fixed.

“It is long overdue for us to escalate this issue and take aggressive action,” Mr Wayne said at a morning news conference. “This is an emergency situation that requires extraordinary measures.”

Dan Lindheim - professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and former Oakland city manager - believes there may be several issues at play, including staff turnover and computer systems that don’t talk to each other.

However, a lot of money has gone into a payroll system that is still not working yet there are 1,000 school districts in California, not to mention cities and counties that are successfully paying employees, the professor added.

“You would hope (the companies providing the product) would make sure it works,” Professor Lindheim said. He has served on Berkeley and Oakland school district oversight committees.

However, he added that placing blame or taking legal action against the private companies now would not be wise, especially if you still need their help.

“Threatening to sue if you’re trying to get someone to help you is not usually helpful,” he said. “You sue after it’s working. That’s what I would do.”

The outside consultants hired to assess the problems and find solutions have discovered that the complications are far more deeply embedded than initially thought, Mr Wayne said, with problems spanning across several district departments, including human resources and finance, among others.

The issues have had an impact on staff morale as well as their ability to pay bills.

In one case, a school principal reportedly wrote a personal cheque for $4,500 to a teacher to help cover her rent until the district paid her for the month. Others have staged sit-ins at the district office to protest the problems.

District officials are said to have vowed to prioritise fixing errors and ensuring all district workers receive pay owed, including any interest or fees accumulated as the result of late bill payments or overdrafts.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(Link and quotes via original reporting)