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School district planning administrative staff changes

JANESVILLE — Superintendent Karen Schulte is rebuilding her administrative team by promoting two and eliminating one position for a net savings of about $70,000.

The school board's policy, personnel and curriculum committee approved the changes on Tuesday, sending them on to the full board with a unanimous vote.

The moves were prompted by the retirement of Mat Haeger, manager of health services, and the resignation of Angel Tullar, the longtime manager of employee relations.

Schulte told the committee she was not eager to make the changes but that she needs to look for ways to reduce expenses and become more efficient.

Here's a rundown of the changes:

-- Mary Ann Kahl, who was just hired to replace Tullar, would move into the newly created position of assistant director of administrative and human services.

Kahl is a former superintendent in an Illinois school district.

Tullar was paid $91,514 this year. Kahl would be paid $110,000.

"The appointment of Dr. Kahl allows us to have a person on staff who is a seasoned negotiator with knowledge of employee benefits, along with being a licensed administrator, thus having the ability to administrate programs and supervise and evaluate professional staff," Schulte wrote.

The change also allows Kahl to take the reins in the department while Steve Sperry, director of administrative and human services, recovers from an illness, Schulte told the committee.

Kahl (pronounced like "kale") would take charge of handbook development, among other duties. The handbook takes the place of union contracts that will be eliminated starting July 1, 2013. It would lay out work rules and benefits, among other items.

-- Tonya Williams, secretary to the manager of employee relations, would be promoted to a new position, employee relations specialist. Her annual salary would rise from $36,862 to $46,000.

Schulte said similar positions in this area have a salary range of $45,000 to $75,000.

Williams earned a bachelor's degree in human resources in 2008 and has continued to upgrade her skills in this area, Schulte said in a memo to the board.

"I believe it is important to have a seasoned employee in this role with experience and knowledge of our current (benefits) plan design," Schulte wrote. "It is also important to have a liaison between the (benefits) vendors … and School District of Janesville employees.

-- Haeger's position, which pays $85,852 this year, would be eliminated.

Some of his duties would go to other central-office administrators, and one of the district's nurses would be paid an extra $5,000 to handle other duties.

The savings in salary from all the moves would be about $53,000. Another $17,000 would be saved in benefits.

Schulte said the savings are not great in a budget of $110 million, "but I think it's important to look for savings wherever I can."