Back in early May, when the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board was pondering budget cuts and we were trying to answer reader questions, Jeff Costa, the testing coordinator at Hopewell High, asked about new fingerprint-scanning time clocks being installed in schools.
"Several of us at Hopewell are curious how much CMS spent on the new time clock system," he wrote. "It has to be an extraordinary amount of money, not to mention how it will slow down productivity."
I forwarded the question to the public information office, and they sent it to the finance department. After many follow-up prods, the answer landed in my inbox last week: The MyTime system, which will track hours and attendance for 6,500 of the district's 18,000-plus employees, cost $2,177,866. About $1.6 million came from county money and the rest from federal lunch subsidies and meal fees. Most of the expense -- about $1.7 million -- landed in the 2009-10 budget and the remaining half-million in the current year.
The CMS memo explains the benefits this way:
• Minimize compliance risks by enforcing and tracking complex compliance requirements, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Improve workforce productivity by reducing manual administrative tasks
• Eliminate the possibility of keying errors that cause mistakes in employee paychecks
The system also uses Kronos software: In researching best business practices, CMS found the Kronos Workforce Timekeeper system to be in place by many organizations in the Charlotte area, including the City of Charlotte, Coca Cola Bottling, Family Dollar Stores, Carolinas Medical Center and Lance, Inc. Incorporating this best practice is one more step toward improving business operations and effectiveness.
Costa read the full memo but wasn't swayed.
"You should talk to some people who actually use it. There is no way this improves productivity," he replied. "$2.1 Million when you are laying off hundreds of teachers.. are you kidding me?"
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29 comments:
How much did it cost for the city of Charlotte to implement this? Has it lived up to its billing? If not, why hasn't someone been screaming bloody murder about the expense for the city and its taxpayers?
Too bad that our school system is so big that it requires complex mechanisms to deal with various federal, state, and local standards and mandates.
About $1.6 million came from county money and the rest from federal lunch subsidies and meal fees.
Waste and fraud in the school lunch program.
People actually believe my rants about that waste and fraud in the lunch program are misplaced.
If CMS can get MILLIONS to pay for time clocks from lunch subsidies, how many more school districts across the country are getting lunch money for their pet projects?
I rest my case.
Actually a Kronos timekeeper central payroll system might cost a lot to implement, but you also eliminate multiple employees from having to do a very repetitious job - basically entering the time someone clocked in and out on a computer. You can then link those punches to ADP or another payroll system and have the paychecks direct deposited, and "Charge" the employee for a live-check. This saves paper, postage, and another department that you would have to pay a salary and benefits to. People will complain about CMS cutting jobs or spending money, but they have no idea why first. The Biometric Fingerprint reader is a simple way of eliminating a magnetic card that fails all too often, and can be punched in by your friend/co-worker if you are late - yes people do this. I do not work for CMS, but my private manufacturing company installed these as well, it does save money - a lot of it.
This is good as it is designed to handle Human Capital according to the Kronos software website.
And since we have allowed our School system to get so big and impersonal this is one way to pretend we have some personal outlook in schools with the employees.
A better way would be to return this mess and www.Deconsolidate.com this mess and have schools that actually operate for the best of the areas they serve. And with Professionals who are revered not called Human Capital.
And boards with volunteers who do not get paid. That way we know they are on the board for the kids and not just to get another elected position.
Can you find out how they plan to use this information for teachers? My district also uses Chronos and if teachers are more than 5 mins. tardy, our school district penalizses them a minimum of 15 mins. of sick leave for each occurrence. How is it that school systems can penalize teachers (who are salaried employeees) for being 5 mins. late but make no concessions for the hundreds of "over-time" hours teachers work each school year?
Please, these things are a joke. My Mom is a teacher in CMS and works off the clock as well. You can't say no to a child in need of extra help after school or to a committee that your principal has "asked" for you to head up. CMS needs to divide, it is too big for it's britches and can no longer control the massive amount of schools, students, teachers and staff. I graduated from CMS 10 years ago, it's sad to see how much has changed for the worst since I left.
Unreal.
CMS is doomed.
Since we have a headline proclaiming "CMS' $2 million time clocks" this will of course become another club to be used against CMS (even if it is just a blog headline). A reasonable discussion of the issue has followed so far in the comment section. As with many issues regarding CMS, it's too bad that catchy headlines will grab attention--not many will stop to consider the discussion.
CMS does a fine job of clubbing themselves.
No kidding! In CMS these time clocks are not used for teachers, only non-certified staff (teacher assistants, secretaries, custodians, cafeteria staff). It's a kick in the teeth for morale...seems as if they don't trust us to be honest on our time sheets....makes me feel like I'm 17 again and working a part-time job.
I'd also like to know about the two LARGE FLAT SCREEN TV'S that showed up in our cafeteria and are used to show the menu and advertise eating healthy foods...like the kids are really paying any attention to them once they found out they're not for entertainment while they eat! How much did they cost, what was the souce of funds, and how many schools got them? They could actually be useful if they would show something the students would like to watch....might keep more order and quiet in the cafeteria.
Cltguy81, CMS went to all direct deposit, I believe last year or the year before....it's been an option for at least 15 years, made manditory more recently.
And Wiley, while you're talking about lunch, you might also consider how much food is wasted by students(both FRL and non-FRL) who don't like how it looks or tastes or is placed on their tray. Of course that's training that begins at home, but it's amazing what goes in the trash every day....
Anon 10:59...
I don't have to see it to know it happens, unless we're going to invoke the "if a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound" argument.
I think my son still had about $25.00 in his lunch account at schools end and that money had been there for awhile.
Most days he wouldn't eat the food so if you have seen the waste, then I believe it.
So, CMS, you can keep the $25 bucks and I can say there was nothing at anytime I didn't pay for during my son's 13 years in your system.
I understand how 2million may give one "sticker shock" especially if you're used to making consumer purchases only. However, this fee is quite reasonable given the number of employees and the number of years the system will be in place. I suspect the hope is to be able to eliminate some/all of the human effort required to track timekeeping right now.
Its easy to lose perspective on costs savings with computer systems as such systems carry a heavy up front cost. However, many of the systems that CMS has installed has reduced the number of overhead staff required especially at the Board of Education.
May seem like a story about government waste, but I would argue that this is a case of responsible investing that will have a positive return on investment. I say this as a business owner and republican.
Wonder if this meets Section 508 or ADA Title II?
Wonder why it took a whole year to implement. Some of these timeclocks were installed last summer.
Anon 12:37...
Whether the district decides teachers should clock in and out is immaterial to me.
What bothers me is the fact a half million dollars was used from the school lunch program.
This comes as repeated attempts have been thwarted by the USDA and some of our lame BOE members to do a full audit of the school lunch program.
CMS own sample audits show 60% possibly DONT QUALIFY for the subsidy.
Within CMS, that could potentially be 44,000 students. yet people continue to turn a blind eye towards those facts.
At my school the time-clock has had mostly negative effects. It does make our financial secretary's job easier because she doesn't have to enter the timesheet information for hourly employees. However, it has made life more difficult for hourly employees like teacher assistants. If a large group of people need to clock-out at a specific time, they have to kind of crowd around the clock, waiting for their time to clock-out. Time is wasted walking to the main office to clock-out. There was a swift up-tick in "watch the clock" discussions and stress in the last quarter of the year (when the clock was implemented). It send a message of a lack of trust of employees especially for people who work very hard and don't get paid very much.
West Meck has it for teachers. It was needed for some. Understandably.
Anon 10:49 - which school got those boards???
The previous CMS Elem post is sooo true. As a recently RIF'd TA, I got to experience the stress of punching in within the 3 min window prior to your actual time and the 1 min after. Then whatever time you actually clocked in, you had to make sure you EXACTLY punched out 7.5 hrs later...not a MINUTE more. Otherwise, anything over exactly 37.5 hrs was considered OT, and all TA's sign an agreement at the start of the year that says you agree to not get paid OT. AND...if you are 1 minute in OT, the school itself is charged for the OT and the principals do NOT like it at all. So, you would see a gathering of TA's just hovering and watching the clock to make sure we punched out precisely at 7.5 hrs.
The other negative to the time clock is that most of our school's TA's came in early and or stayed late on their own time and actually worked. Our time sheets never reflected those times, but just our typical 8:30-4 shift. Now, since we have to be super mindful of the clock, those of us with classrooms 2 football fields away from the time clock, lack the freedom to come and go. We are bound by a clock, and that clock dictates the beginning and ending of a school day.
I could go on and on.
I can attest to the large numbers of clock watchers!! I cannot get into the mail room to check my mail because of all the hourly people watching the clock to not be in overtime. These employees were always working in their kindergarten classrooms until AFTER the time to leave, but now they are so worried NOT to be over that they are stressed and now unproductive!!! They do not have time to go to the classrooms and do any task because this would cause them to have overtime. Now, we have an additional 45 minutes to fill, so these people will clock out for lunch and then watch the clock to get back in time. Yes, these people deserve a break and usually took one, but were not attached to the clock. Yes, some returned later than others, but abusers were not tolerated. Productivity will continue to decrease for the hourly employee. Why were these biometric time clocks installed and not a web based one - where the hourly employees could clock in and out on any of the computers on campus.
Another dumb move during the Gorman era!! I see hourly employees waiting until 7 p.m. to clock in and leaving at exactly 4 p.m. Before the time clocks they arrived early and worked late, which actually means the school was getting labor for FREE! Now I see those same employees quit right in the middle of a job to go clock out. NICE JOB PETE!!!!
I can't see as how this can be a benefit for salaried employees like teachers--I often am at school 45 minutes before the start of classes and due to after school clubs, etc. that I work with, there are days I am at school an hour or even 4 hours after the end of the official day. Often, students show up at my door immediately after school for tutoring or questions. This seems like a prodigous waste of money. So, that's $2 million for time clocks and another $2 million for tests for everything from AP to Dance to Zoology... So... $4 million just in those two areas could have been saved... I've made a few silly impulse or fad induced buys in my time, but given the current situation with money and the "desperate" need to lay off teachers to make ends meet (said with a strategic tear and downturned countenance of Master Pete)... This is RIDICULOUS!
Add to that... part of it was paid for by federal lunch subsidies... HUH? Pretty sure those monies should be spent ethically to improve student achievement by not putting kids in classes with 40 other kids...
So, Pete... I have this ocean front property in Arizona...
Another fine decision made by CMS was to install and implement these time clocks in a school in May that closed in June. I wonder how much it will cost them to move the system or if the company that leases the building gets to keep the clocks as a coat rack. I hope the investment in the time clocks instead of me, my co workers and most importantly the children works out for them. Somehow I don't think so...
First, Kronos does not save paperwork. The financial secretary at each school must account for every variation in every hourly employees' minutes that fall outside the sign in-sign out window of time. (This can be for signing out as little as 1 minute late.) This means that the secretary may be filling out 2 pieces of paper every day per employee and wasting a lot of time/productivity. Secondly, using a timeclock at a school creates an atmosphere where already poorly paid hourly employees are watching the clock either for fear of lost wages or for beratement by administration for accidentally working overtime. They also (rightfully) become unwilling to work a minute more than they are contracted. When an employee is being paid up to the minute and only to that minute, that's exactly the productivity you will get. You will not have people willing to give additional time before or after school for meetings or workshops, nor will they stay after school to tutor students, help lead teachers, sponsor clubs and extra-curriculars or to supervise student events. Time is money, right? Implementation of the Kronos system in schools is not only monetarily wasteful (2 million dollars?!?! And the one in our school sat idle for 6 months before it went live.), it is actually counterproductive to the school when you consider the entire picture.
You are absoultely right.
Well, it goes to the headline of another blog post... Pete as CMS Vendor... Surely, someone in a job like the one Pete is going to be doing, pitched and sold this "newest", "greatest" innovation in education... Pete is going to be doing the same thing with Rupert Murdoch's "Wireless Generation" wares....
Does anyone want to go see "The Music Man"---for some reason I really want to see it after reading these two blog posts!!!
$1.57 Chinese made Walmart clock would do just fine
Sometimes, failure is deserved...and needed.
Rock bottom is the destination for the nation it seems. no where else but back up to go from there.
Not all time and attendance software programs are created equal, so it is important to find the right time tracking system for your business. If a free download is available from the vendor, then you should give it a try.
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