CCSD board hears update on payroll system issues

The Clark County School Board heard an update Thursday night about steps to move foward after the problematic launch of a new payroll software system led to thousands of employees being shorted pay earlier this year.

The school district’s $17 million Human Capital Management System was rolled out in early January. Issues with the software affected 6,400 licensed teachers and 1,450 substitute teachers who didn’t receive their full pay in January.

CCSD issued five checks to make up for shortages, but some employees reported they were still missing pay — in some cases, more than $2,000. The district offered interest-free loans to affected employees and also reached out to utility companies on their behalf.

A presentation to the board Thursday touched on “fragmented collaboration” between implementing partners and CCSD, and a “lack of confidence in the use of the system,” according to meeting materials.

CCSD negotiated and recouped more than $700,000 as a continued support credit from the vendor, CherryRoad Technologies.

Mike Casey, chief operating officer for the school district, said some data still must be analyzed and there are 192 potential instances that may require issuing a check to an employee for money owed. He said the district also has had “some clean payrolls” with correct processing in recent months.

In most cases, when a project is about to go live, there’s a “go/no go” meeting that includes 100 percent of stakeholders, said Mike Del Prado, project recovery manager with the firm Executive Option.

It’s the last meeting to decide whether to go live with a system or whether there are issues that need to be addressed, Del Prado said. “It’s a hard conversation to have, especially if there are critical gaps, because there’s a lot of time and cost involved.”

He said that from his analysis about the CCSD launch, it appears not all stakeholders were involved in that meeting.

The system went live with “critical functional gaps still open,” according to meeting materials.

CherryRoad was “very accommodating, given the circumstances,” Del Prado said.

More than 80 percent of remediation items have now been completed and submitted for testing, he said. Del Prado said he expects 95 percent will be tested and operational by the end of this month.

The ultimate goal is moving from a project model to operational support model, Del Prado said. “We’re not there yet, but we’re trending towards that.”

Board chairwoman Lola Brooks said the board was presented with information prior to the launch that was “overly optimistic” and that no issues were raised.

The focus now is making sure the system is up-and-running 100 percent and that employees are paid, she said, adding it’s also important to look back at where critical failures occurred in order to be more forward thinking in the future.

Also during the Thursday meeting, the board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with Hazel Health and School Based Urgent Care Network for telehealth primary care services for CCSD students.

Services will be provided at no cost to students, with parent or guardian consent. The offering begins Friday and runs through May 31, 2025.

Also, the Council of the Great City Schools — a coalition of 76 urban school districts across the country — presented findings of a review of the district’s special education services.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.