The Park City Board of Education announces a new top level administrative role which will be second in line after the Superintendent of Schools. It’s a position requiring expertise in safety and facility management. With Master Facilities Planning due to start in September, the President of the Park City Board of Education says it’s a critical need as they move ahead in re-building district administration. Carolyn Murray has this:
The job posting is for a Deputy Superintendent who will focus on operations and facilities. The base salary range is $165,000 to $185,000 a year. The administrative job description can be found on the pcschools.us website under the Human Resources tab.
Adding a new position has not been discussed in open board meetings during the budget hearings recently held in June and July. District Communications Director, Melinda Colton says the Board and incoming Superintendent, Jill Gildea made the decision to add the Deputy position as a means to allow Gildea to spend more time in the schools focusing on academics, teaching and bringing the 21 new hires on board.
“..when Dr. Gildea…as part of her initial interview, she mentioned the importance of.…cause we’ve got these new people coming on like the secondary principals, the interventionists. One of Petra’s concerns was on boarding…and she wants to make sure that they are put exactly where they need to be and they’re doing the job. She needs to focus on instruction, spending lots of time in schools with principals and this Deputy would be the operational side.”
District Business Administrator, Todd Hauber says the new Deputy position will not add a new position to the overall operational budget.
“The position that was in the preliminary budget was for a District safety Coordinator. That was not an Associate Superintendent position, it was a coordinator position. With Dr. Gildea coming on and her proposal to have a Deputy Superintendent, these duties will be assumed into that new position. So this won’t be a n additional FTE. It would be taking the FTE that was authorized and changing it into that larger responsibility of a Deputy.”
The preliminary budget shows a new position of Safety Coordinator. That job is listed at 68,000 a year in salary. Colton says they’ve rolled this position into the new Deputy role which will have direct report to the Superintendent.
“They’ve taken that money originally for the Safety Coordinator, added that position as well to oversee that to make sure there’s some continuity in facilities...it’s kind of part of the Superintendent’s job and part of Todd’s job, all into one.”
The Board is proposing a $5.6 million tax increase for 2019 which won’t be approved until the Truth in Taxation hearing scheduled for August 14th. Another tax increase of similar size is expected for 2020. Business Administrator, Todd Hauber says the budget will be finalized shortly after the hearing. Hauber doesn’t expect the added 165 to $185,000 a year salary will add to any additional tax burden.
“We have multiple sources of revenue to balance the budget. So we had identified what is necessary in a tax increase. We also have what the state legislature appropriates to the school district, what the federal government allocates to the school district. Then we also have what’s called fund balance. So it’s the unexpended revenues of the year prior. And I’m anticipating there will be unspent revenues when we close out the books for 2018 that we would not need to ask for additional revenues in a property tax.”
The School District issued the press release late on Thursday. It highlights the multi-million dollar investment in district safety and security along with the Master Facilities Planning project due to begin in September as the impetus for creating the new District Administrative position.
KPCW contacted each of the school board members for comment and received no response in time for broadcast.
