Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano elementary school principals will get some help keeping order in their schools, and all employees in the Shawano School District will have one go-to person for human resource concerns.
The Shawano School Board voted unanimously Monday to create a human resources director position for the district and two dean of students positions to handle disciplinary matters at Hillcrest Primary School and Olga Brener Intermediate School.
No cost estimates for the new positions were available Monday.
The new positions were recommended by Springsted Inc., which recently completed a $20,000 study on the district’s administrative structure.
The report found that Shawano Community High School has higher-than-average administrative staffing, while Hillcrest Primary and Olga Brener both are understaffed when it comes to administration. The consultants recommend looking at trimming high school staff while bolstering the other two schools so that their principals could focus on more than behavior and discipline problems.
Acknowledging that some proposed changes could cost money, the consulting firm points to opportunities to reduce costs elsewhere, such as eliminating a communications/public relations position in the district office.
However, the board did not announce any cuts Monday to help pay for the three new positions.
The district plans to fill the dean positions by the start of the second semester in January. Finding a suitable HR director could take longer.
Job descriptions are still in the works, and salaries have not been established yet, according to Superintendent Gary Cumberland.
The average ratio of administrators to students is 356-1 in 15 other districts studied, including Bonduel, Clintonville, Pulaski and Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
Currently, there are 553 students enrolled at Olga Brener and 635 at Hillcrest, including those in LEADS Primary Charter School.
“One of the concerns we saw in the study in regards to the dean of students is that our numbers in our elementary schools was the number of students to administrators,” Cumberland said. “We’re almost double what’s there with the one principal (at each school).”
The study noted that the elementary principals were dealing more with disciplinary issues and not focusing on the leadership and guidance of their staff.
The study had several recommendations about centralizing human resources, but the current situation — where the curriculum director, business manager and several others are called upon to handle HR issues — is not working, according to Cumberland.
“We have other responsibilities that need to get done,” Cumberland said. “For our human resources person, I want to have a really solid plan when we proceed.”
Board member Michael Sleeper said the district needs to get an HR director, as that person will be critical in developing a plan for how to implement other recommendations from the administrative study.
Board member Marcia Yaeger noted that having an HR director is vital for any business, but she wanted to be certain the district didn’t rush to fill a position without cementing what the job would entail.
“I think we need to take our time, but I’m definitely for it,” Yaeger said. “If you have a key HR person, you have a very successful business.”