School Board Hears Report On Merging Town And School Functions

By Eliza Hallabeck

A report released in April and prepared by the consulting firm Blum Shapiro was presented to the Board of Education at its meeting on Tuesday, July 10, when Jeff Ziplow and Domenic Barone of the firm provided an overview and answered questions.

As Mr Ziplow explained, the firm looked for opportunities to share services between the town and school district. While Mr Ziplow said many towns and school districts do not get along, he did not find this to be true in Newtown. Mr Ziplow acknowledged the town and school district may not always hold hands, but there were already examples of the town and school district working together before the Blum Shapiro report was completed.

“You don’t find that in many communities,” said Mr Ziplow.

The “Operations Feasibility Study” was commissioned by the town in May 2011 and was expected by last September, but it was delayed as the final version was refined because officials believed initial recommendations were too aggressive. The report was presented to the Legislative Council in May.

To prepare the report, Mr Ziplow said Blum Shapiro interviewed 29 individuals and met with members of multiple boards.

As Mr Ziplow shared with the school board some of the findings, including the observation that the town and the school district are not using the same system for financial accounting, and the town and school district maintenance departments and information technology departments are already working together unofficially.

“By bringing people together, we can build a deeper bench,” Mr Ziplow said, about further combining town and school functions to officially work together.

Outlined in the Operations Feasibility Study is a four-phase implementation plan that Mr Ziplow told the school board would allow for each phase to be vetted before being implemented.

As previously reported by The Bee, the Blum Shapiro team recommends the town and school district implement a “Shared Services Model” using “a transitional approach to phasing into a new organizational structure” as follows: Phase 1 – Merge School District Human Resources and Payroll with Town; Phase 2 – Merge Town Maintainers with School District; Phase 3 – Merge Town Information Technology with School District; Phase 4 – Merge School District Financial Operations with Town Potential Savings Outlined. The consultants state that “utilizing current employees in new structure provides institutional knowledge of both organizations, provides stabilization, and enables existing employees ability to ensure new organization is a good fit.”

When questioned by school board member John Vouros, Mr Ziplow specified no positions will be removed when the process of implementing the plan begins, but over time through employees leaving or retiring there will be a loss of positions. Mr Ziplow also said with the phases, some job descriptions could change.

Mr Ziplow said as the town and school district functions merge, First Selectman Pat Llodra and Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson have agreed to oversee the hiring and evaluation of the combined positions.

After BOE member Richard Gaines asked how long it could take to implement the merge between school district and town functions, Mr Ziplow said the plan needs to first be approved by “lots of people.” He also added the superintendent and first selectman have already backed the plan, and he recommended starting Phase 1, merging school district human resources and payroll with the town in January when it would be smoothest to execute.

Dr Robinson said she foresees each phase of the plan being approved and vetted separately.

Mr Ziplow estimated merging town and school district functions could save between $400,000 and $500,000 over five years, and that amount includes the costs associated with purchasing electronic systems and more.

Also during the meeting, the Board of Education unanimously approved a waiver that will allow school district Business Director Ronald Bienkowski to work with a 40-town consortium to seek a fuel oil bid for the 2013–14 school year.