Committee raises concerns about mismatched job descriptions, titles and staffing across Methuen district

School committee members on Aug. 25 pressed district leaders to reconcile employment contracts, job descriptions and on-the-ground duties after multiple speakers said titles, appended job descriptions and actual responsibilities do not match. Member Chris Maxwell told the committee she requested copies of contracts and appurtenant job descriptions and found discrepancies: some contracts referenced appendices that either were missing or did not match current practice, and several positions listed duties that appear distributed across multiple staff. "The job descriptions and the contracts just don't match, what's actually being done with the roles," Maxwell said. Members said the director of facilities role and finance/operations functions have blurred after a budget-cycle reorganization that changed several titles. Member DeZaglio described the director of facilities as performing multiple duties and said the site sometimes lacked sufficient custodial coverage; Director of Operations Matt (Ian) (as referenced in the district's staffing discussion) said the district has authorized overtime, recalled retired custodians and increased staffing where possible but continues hiring challenges. Several members urged the committee to document the actual duties currently performed, align job descriptions and contracts with those duties and identify where permanent positions are missing. Member DeZaglio and others said interim arrangements (for example, staff carrying out duties for vacant positions) should be made explicit so future budget cycles can consider creating or refilling those roles. Clarifying detail: committee members noted there is no job description attached to the director of facilities contract in the materials Maxwell received; the director of student services and some grant/procurement roles also appeared to have overlapping responsibilities. Administration said some duties are performed by staff in interim assignments because budgeted positions have been vacant. Colleen McCarthy and Gina Bosak (administrative staff cited by members) were named as performing duties outside of currently budgeted positions. Direction: the committee asked administration to verify and reconcile contracts and job descriptions, locate missing appendices, and present a reconciled summary to the committee in a future meeting so the committee can consider whether to create or fund additional positions in the next budget cycle. No personnel discipline or reassignments were made at the meeting.