Saugus schools to add 3 new posts

SAUGUS – Superintendent Richard Langlois is creating three new positions within the School Department but they shouldn’t create a stir since it will cost the town nothing.Langlois put together a new organizational chart for the School Department and in doing so discovered a few areas lacking in oversite. To correct that he is proposing the creation of an Executive Director of Accountability and Instruction, a Human Resources Manager and a Coordinator of Clinical Services/Assessments.School Committee member Christine Wilson said the department had an organizational chart “many, many moons ago,” but it, as well as personnel, was lost to budget cuts and was never updated.Langlois said he believed the chart and the new positions were critical to allow the department to work as a whole. He said he believed it would serve the district well and bring clarity.The Executive Director would work in the area of curriculum while the Coordinator of Clinical Services/Assessments would work under the Special Education Division. Human Resources would fall under Richard Weeks, the director of finance.”The intent is to be the most effective in organizing the district without any additional cost to the district,” Langlois said.Instead of asking for funding Langlois said he would look within line items and pick up money through attrition to become more effective without becoming more of a burden on the taxpayers. Filling all three positions, he added, would actually save money in that it would free up himself, Weeks and Pupil Personnel Director Cynthia Joyce to focus on other issues.First up for recruitment, Langlois asked the School Committee last week to allow him to post for a Human Resources manager. He called the way things were being handled now “overwhelmingly fragmented.”The draft job description has candidates responsible for overseeing all personnel data as well as medical information, background checks and payroll. Langlois said he wouldn’t make it mandatory but he would also love to find a candidate who was bi-lingual.”I think the most important caveat is ‘any other duties as determined by the superintendent,” he added with a laugh. “I like that a lot.”School Committee member William Leuci said he was worried that Langlois was piling too many duties on one position but Langlois said it was better than the way things were being done now, which was haphazardly at best.”This would cause an even flow,” he said.He also reiterated that funding would be a reallocation of funds and with no additional expense.”I have it because I didn’t fill another position or I saved money on a salary,” he explained.Langlois said he would like to begin the search as soon as possible in order to have it filled by July, “if not sooner.”School Committee member Rick Doucette, like his colleagues, voted to support the request. He argued that most companies have entire departments devoted to things like Human Resources.”We don’t even have a single person,” he said. “This is critical. When you have a district that doesn’t have a lot of upper management – it’s not driving the district forward, it’s treading water.”