Coffee County board agrees to place superintendent calendar amendment on September agenda

Coffee County Board of Education members discussed inconsistencies between the work calendar attached to the new director’s contract and how payroll had the director loaded, and agreed to place a contract amendment on the September agenda to resolve vacation- and holiday-day differences. Board members and staff said they want payroll records to match the contract before the auditor reviews contracts.

Board members said the previously employed director had been on a different calendar and received a different mix of vacation and holiday days than the newly loaded employee. That mismatch left the new director recorded with 13 vacation days and 10 holidays, while the earlier director’s arrangement showed 20 vacation days and 10 holidays. Staff said the issue arose because the director’s contract language mixes calendars for vacation accrual and holiday counts.

The discrepancy matters, staff said, because payroll carries the employee on a specific work-calendar line that determines earned vacation and holidays. “This contract is what was presented to you,” a staff member said during the work session, noting that whatever the board amends must match what payroll loads to survive an audit. Staff recommended amending the contract or the payroll line so the director does not lose days.

Board members discussed options: leave the director on a separate calendar and adjust payroll lines to match the contract, or formally amend the contract to change the calendar attachment and thereby adjust the days. Several members said they favored keeping the director on the central February work calendar used by central office staff to avoid unequal treatment among central-office directors and to simplify bookkeeping.

Board members did not take a formal vote at the work session. The board chair directed staff to draft contract language reflecting the agreed approach and to place a proposed amendment on the September board meeting agenda for formal approval. Staff said the auditor compares loaded payroll to the contract annually and that a formal amendment would be required to change holiday or vacation entitlements already written in the contract.

The board requested staff provide the revised contract language and the payroll adjustments for the September meeting so members could vote. The matter remains pending until the board acts in a public board meeting.