Board agrees to use operational study framework to redesign staffing controls

Danielle Connelly, vice president of consulting for School Services of California, told the Palmdale Aerospace Academy board that the academy lacks a unified position-control platform and that personnel makes up roughly 67% of the academy’s budget. “Position control is the manner in which you manage your personnel expenditures and your staffing,” Connelly said during the board’s May 12 meeting.

Connelly summarized a position-control assessment that reviewed HR, payroll and business-services processes and recommended organizational clarifications rather than immediate staff increases. Key recommendations included clearer job titles to distinguish certificated and classified responsibilities, assigning the chief business official an earlier role in personnel approvals, creating a personnel-requisition form and workflow, and splitting payroll support for certificated and classified employees.

Trustees asked how quickly the academy should pursue new software and whether the director of student services should retain HR responsibilities. Connelly said the priority is documenting consistent processes and that technology should follow process change. She recommended phased implementation, adding that a personnel-requisition workflow that elevates the CBO will help control unplanned hires.

After questions from trustees about costs, staffing thresholds and bargaining-unit implications, a trustee moved that the board “use this framework to initiate a plan” (not to adopt each recommendation immediately). The motion carried on a voice vote; the board directed administration to return with more detailed proposals, cost estimates and a timetable for implementation.

What happens next: administration will present a prioritized implementation plan and cost estimates in a future meeting. The board’s vote authorizes staff to begin planning around the consultant’s framework rather than mandating specific organizational changes.