Recurring

gripes by some Fayette County school system employees

over what they consider to be salary inequities prompted

the Board of Education Monday night to take a serious

look at drafting a unified pay scale.

Superintendent

John DeCotis said a committee composed of 15 district

employees from all sectors of the system was formed in

June to solicit input from their colleagues. The group

came up with a proposal last month which recommended

contracting with a firm called Educational Performance

Evaluation and Management Systems of America, Inc. for

$45,000 to construct a unified salary scale based on job

descriptions, employee surveys and individual interviews.

The board

voted 3-2 to go forward with spending up to $45,000 for

the in-depth study and have the committee review specific

jobs to evaluate in order to shave a little off the total

cost.

Board

chairman Debbie Condon, Mickey Littlefield and Greg

Powers supported the recommendation. "This issue

comes up every year... we made a commitment to look at

this," Condon said. "I'd truly like it done

before we deal with the budget again." Condon added

that she thought it would be "money well

spent."

"I

don't agree with a lot of this," said Board Member

Woody Shelnutt. "It will just create more

problems... This is a bad time and I don't see how we can

do it." He said the outcome would only trigger more

pay raises.

Board

member Connie Hale said, "The whole thing is skewed.

It's absolutely crazy... $45,000 is a lot of money at

this stage of the game." She also pointed out that

85 percent of the total budget goes for salaries and

called for an in-house examination of the pay scale.

"I have confidence that the people here can form a

committee and be team players, be fair and look at the

whole picture."

DeCotis

said he had been notified by 61 employees who were

concerned about equity issues, some of whom had also

contacted attorneys. He said the district did not have

enough "specialized expertise" to carry out the

process of drafting a unified salary scale noting there

were more than 100 different job titles with needs for

specialized personnel growing annually. A smaller study

was conducted about 10 years ago, DeCotis recalled, but

was not comprehensive.

The board

also agreed to contract with Joe T. Byrd of Insurance

Review and Management for $4,450 to advertise and rebid

the property and casualty insurance coverage.

The company

will also review the employee benefit packages at a cost

of $16,400. Total premiums for insurance, dental and

disability plans cost the district more than $1 million

annually. "We're talking about a substantial sum of

money and it's important to get the most out of it,"

DeCotis said.

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