Breach of Trust

Let's play a little game. Why do you work?

To clarify, if you have a job for which you get a paycheck, why do you have that job?

For most that answer would be: for the money. Few people that I know (probably none) go to work day after day purely for personal fulfillment, or for what my mother called "pin money."

Those of us who are working in order to provide for ourselves and for our families need that money. It needs to arrive on schedule as agreed, in a timely manner, and in full. Each paycheck should be accurate.

Right? Isn't that just a basic assumption? A job is an agreement between the worker and the employer. Timely and accurate pay is a part of the deal.

Not in the Howard County System.

Yet again employees received emails telling them of errors in their paychecks.

From an employee:

This message is for all who are running for the BOE- for the 5th pay period in a row, Para educators and TEACHERS in this county have been paid incorrectly. It is completely unacceptable.

Support staff and Teachers in this county deserve to be paid correctly, one pay period we are over paid, the next we are under paid, then we are docked for the overpayment, then we get emails that yet again it has happened to some people. Really? How about the people in the accounting department answer to their inability to get this right. No more apologies, no more blaming the "new work day system". All programs require people to input information some way or another.

There are no excuses, not to mention the effect this problem is causing for morale. We work extremely hard everyday, can we at least get paid correctly for our job? Some people don't have a second income to carry them over- GET IT RIGHT.

Some background: the school system implemented a multi-million dollar payroll system called Workday. This was a sole source contract, no competitive bidding. And the truth of the matter is that is just isn't working. If you have employees who doubt that they even have the remotest idea of what an accurate paycheck would look like, you have a broken payroll system.

This is a major breach of trust. We, as citizens, must be the voice of teachers and other school staff whose work is being so cavalierly disrespected. It is the 5-2 "rubber-stamping" nature of the current Board of Education which allowed this misuse of taxpayer funds, as well as looking the other way while problems continue to arise. We have every right to hold the Board of Education responsible.

A good start? Vote for anyone but the incumbent, who continues to state publicly her support for the Superintendent and the way the Board has operated.

A footnote of sorts: I worked as a part-time, temporary employee for the Howard County School System for twelve years, back when the payroll department did the payroll. In twelve years there was not one single mistake with my paychecks.

Explain to me why we needed a multi-million dollar system that does not actually do the job we need it to do?