001Miss Barton, thank you for beginning the recording. The time is now 6:04 p.m. and I would like to call to order the June 2nd, 2025 board audit committee meeting. Welcome everyone. My name is Dr. Tiffany Ander, chair of this committee and the district 1 school board member. The primary purpose of Prince George's County Board of Education's audit committee is to provide oversight of the financial reporting process, the audit process, the Prince George's County Public School System of Internal Controls and compliance with laws and regulations. Welcome to our committee members and any other board of education members. Actually, I think all here are committee members. So, welcome to all of you this evening. Also, I'd like to welcome members of the administration and any special guests. We'll now have introductions starting in this order, board members,
002administrative staff, board office staff, and all other guests. I will start with you with my vice chair, board member Pamela Boost. Thank you and good evening everyone. I'm District 3 board member Pamela Boozer Stru and I serve as vice chair of the audit committee. Hello everyone. My name is Robin Brown. I'm the District 5 schoolboard member. Good afternoon. Good evening everyone. My name is Mia Barton. I'm the board administrative secretary. Dr. Baldwin. Oh, good evening everyone. I am uh Dr. Christy Murphy Baldwin, chief of human resources. and Gina Thorp, director of internal audit for PGCPS. Perfect. Thank you all so much and welcome again. Very excited to have you all here for the last board audit committee meeting of the year. Miss Barton, could you please call the role? Absolutely. Dr. Ander, present. Miss Boozer,
003present. Mrs. Brown here. Mr. Jackson, Mr. Jongo, you have three present. Thank you. A quorum is present. [Music] Okay. The question now is to adopt the June 2nd, 2025 board audit committee meeting agenda without objection. Okay. There being no objection to the June 2nd, 2025 board audit committee meeting agenda, it has been adopted. The question is to approve the May 5th, 2025 board audit committee meeting minutes without objection. There being no objection, the May 5th, 2025 board audit committee meeting minutes have been approved. And at this time is when we would have public comment. Um but for today's meeting we have zero registered public comment speakers. And so we will proceed and move to the next agenda item which is item 3.0. This evening we have Dr. Christy Baldwin, the chief human resources from the
004chief human resources office for Prince George's County Public Schools, who will be providing a presentation this evening. So, I'd like to recognize you, Dr. Christy Baldwin. Um, and thank you in advance for your presentation. Thank you for having me. So, good evening everyone. Um I am going to be providing uh in a very condensed version uh an HR audit that our superintendent commissioned um on or around this time last school year. And so um we will progress through the slides. I will share with you the information from the audit and then uh have any questions or feedback or thoughts. So next slide. So on around this time last year, our superintendent Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Uh let me just back up before I wanted to give context um before we go into the actual
005audit so that individuals understand what are the departments within the division of human resources. Um because this specific audit really only looked at one department. So I know a lot of times you will hear people say the HR audit but it really only looked at one department. So under human resources we currently have five offices. The off human resources operations and staffing which actually has as you can see multiple offices that range from recruitment, instructional staffing, centrally managed staffing, administrative staffing, certification, what we call position management and then data operations. The other offices that are with us are employee performance, professional learning, equity, diversity, belonging, and then employee and labor relations. So, as we go into this presentation, I want us to keep in mind that they only looked at the operation and staffing because
006that really is our entry into PGCPS and that's how we ensure um that we're able to meet the needs. Um, currently in Prince George's County Public Schools, we have uh close to 20,000 employees. And so this is the office that's responsible for securing that talent and bringing them in so that we can have um employees to do the work within the district. So next slide. So as I was saying uh superintendent on around this time last year had commissioned for a audit of human resources specifically the staffing. Um, we've had this is probably my I'm ending my sixth year here and so we've come a very long way, but I would also say we have a long way to go. We receive a lot of feedback regarding the actual hiring process from onboarding um to
007then eventually having people go into their work locations. So, I was very excited when he brought this opportunity to us and really looked forward to it because I came in 2018, but in 2016, Urban Schools Human Capital Academy actually came and did an audit before. And so, it was nice to have them come back because Prince George's implemented those findings. So, it was nice to have them come back and see how it's going. Um, this is a uh organization that was started by a former chief of human resources that would that worked in Fairfax County, Virginia, New York City, McGomery County. Um, and it and she developed this company that focuses solely on urban school districts across the country. Um, the philosophy is really based on your human resources and an educational system should be
008your partners in the work. So constantly um you should the philosophy is really be in the right hand of the principal um or hiring manager to make sure that as we're hiring people we're hiring people that meet the needs of the individual schools that we're hiring. So that's how human uh Prince George's our supervisors in staffing are called senior HR partners and then the people who actually partner with the principles are called HR partners and then we have junior partners to build capacity and then we have um assistants. So again it was nice to have them come back and see how the work is going. So they came and they conducted um they spent pretty much the whole summer with us. It was important for them to see us from beginning to end. So they
009actually came around this time. We planned out what the events that they would go and visit as well as have them engage in our job fairs, our budget process um so that we could have a a pretty robust findings. So they had um individual stakeholder meetings with our labor partners, with principles, with even our own HR um OS staff. That's what we call operations and staffing, HR OS. They met with instructional directors. They participated in our hiring events over the summer. They monitored our weekly data. So, starting on or around mid July, we start producing like a weekly data report. They were included in those data reports. And then they also had access to all of our data analytics and metrics so that they could produce a report. So I'm going to on the next
010slide tell you the big picture of what the strengths and opportunities were. They one our top strength which I definitely will agree with them is actually our recruitment strategic plan. So, I've been here about 6 years and every 5 years since that time, I've asked that department to produce a strategic plan so that individuals can see all of the locations we go to, um, how we're recruiting, to show the analytics, um, to also show what our vocabulary is, um, our data sources. And when I say vocabulary, we look at attrition, which means these are the people who actually left Prince George's County. Um, a lot of times people want ask questions about turnover, which means they will leave a certain school or they leave a certain office, but we look at attrition, meaning you totally
011left our system. Um, we have very strong grow your own programs. We are actually recipients of the last Maryland lead grant. So, we have about 21 individuals from various um, bargaining unions who are actually graduating this year with their teaching degree. Um so we have pair professional grow your own program substitute grow your own programs and then the recently Maryland leads they said our investments in what's called frontline which is an applicant tracking system which we've never had before our applicant tracking system up until about last year was a Google document for a school district again of 20,000 employees of which 10,000 are teachers. So, we invested into an applicant tracking system which is frontline. Our hiring events, if you haven't been to one, I recommend that you come. They are fun. They are engaging.
012Um, we actually call them a pooa because we have any and everything there to try to make sure that we get as as many people interested as possible. And then also they recognize the relationships that our HR partners have with our principles opportunities. and nothing that they said I would say that I disagree with. Um the first one is actually timeline and processes. That is actually one of our biggest challenges. Um for example, um for those who've worked in school districts before, most school districts, if not all school districts are finished with their budget process in February, so that they can hire in March. um our budget process and our principles, they do student based budgets, so they purchase positions that they are still um in the process of purchasing positions and making decisions. Um
013that is not new. That is something that has cons been pretty consistent, but it places your human resource department in a very compromising position in that we do not get our staffing file until around the first week in July. By that time, your May graduates have already secured other positions. Um, I like to say that this area, this DMV is a teacher heaven. It is probably one of the few places in the country where um if you are a teacher, you basically get to pick what where you want to teach, what you want to teach, and where you want to teach. We are surrounded by at least five other districts that are in the top 25 districts in the country, Fairfax, McGomery County, Anna Rundle, Howard, Baltimore County, Baltimore City. Um, and then some of
014the other locations, Arlington public schools, Alexandria public schools, Charles County public schools. Um, you can have urban, you can have rural, you can have suburban. Prince George's, out of all of them, is the only school district that actually can has all of those in one. Um, but when you hear people say the hiring process is long, it is long. Um, and that is because we do not know our positions. And we also run what's called true position control which means every single person sits in what a costing string and as long as somebody is in that we cannot fill that position. So that's a very high level description. Uh we actually have a lot of late resignations. Um this is something as a committee and as we enter legislative season next year that maybe we
015want to pursue. In Virginia teachers cannot leave school districts after June 15th. There's also a gentleman's agreement that you cannot leave after June 1st. In Maryland, the um teachers can resign up until July 15th. And if you imagine, school is starting almost like the midweek in August. So, we have a lot of individuals who resign at the last minute. Um position management process. So again, because we run what's called true position control and as long as as a person is sitting in a position, it is there are a lot of processes in order to hire someone else into that same position because it also impacts how we do our budget and being able to produce those findings. Um, lack of role clarity. I started out with showing you a department org. um some processes or
016departments that you would think are in human resources are not. So therefore, absent management, um benefits and payroll risk management, they're not in human resources. So actually 90% of the calls we get in our employee service center actually are related to those um areas that are not within our uh control which then leads to individuals feeling very frustrated because they said I reached out to human resources and I didn't get an answer. Um so they do recommend how do we make sure that we people understand the part that we do own is just the the staffing piece. And then the last one is unfortunately we have a lot of manual processes as I said um we just purchased an applicant tracking system and until then we we we are we are experts in Google documents.
017Yes. Um so those are our opportunities and based upon this information they made recommendations. Next slide. their recommendations, they broke down into policy, process, customer service, and support. Um, in order to try to change that into our PGCPS language, so we understood what that meant for us. Um, and we also kind of flipped the triangle down to say that the base of what in order to make some of their recommendations come to fruition, the base actually comes under contract changes and specifically changes that are in the teacher contract. Um and then the next part processes are really an intersection between business management and information technology. Human resources is the face of everything. Um but behind that are other divisions and so the work between business management and IT. Um we have a very strong partnership
018with them but that is a a big part of some of the processes that need to change. And then the last part that's with within our control is just really the HR staffing. And when we get to that part, you will see a lot of the recommendations they had for us have already been implemented. So next slide. I did number the slides. So if we go back to questions, you can always have the you you know what slide to reference. All right. So the contract changes um like Mia she is so fast. Okay contract changes. So these are recommendations that came from urban schools but we are not able to change them unless we change language in the contract. So for example shorten the teacher transfer timeline. Uh right now our teacher transfer timeline for
019a voluntary transfer starts January 15th and goes all the way up to March 15th or 16th. That is in the teacher contract. So if we wanted to shorten that, we cannot because again that's in their contract. Um and again I'm going to keep this very high level on chair Dr. Ander. So if something changes just let me know. Um they also recommend that we move back the timing of when we place surplus teachers which we call uh involuntary transfers. So this is a perfect time to explain how we're not able to do that right now because if schools are just finishing their budgets, we don't have the list of teachers who've been cut from their schools. So in order to and the teachers union contract says they have to be placed first. So if I
020have um a new teacher that wants to work at Jane do elementary school but they may only have two or three vacancies. Our involuntary teachers have to be placed first um rather than ensuring that that person gets that specific location. um because of the way the contract is written. Again, the last one, trying to find a way to mitigate late resignations. Um we've done signing bonuses or early retirement bonuses in the past. We haven't seen a lot of people engage in that. Um you often will hear people leave PGCPS and that actually is not true. Um we have individuals who've been here for a very long time. So even tomorrow at our employee recognition, we had to actually start at I think about 30 or 35 because we have close to probably 500 people of
021which I think maybe 10 have been here for at least 50 years. So people come here and they don't leave. Now where we do see individuals who leave are our brand new educators. Um they are the ones who will come in and then decide that they don't want to stay and they'll leave. Um, I think even on our highest step in our pay scale, we have about 4,000 teachers that are sitting at step 21, which is the highest step you can go. And then the last one is just overall changing the process for uh transfer candidates to apply directly to openings. Um that is something that right now teachers we have a a manual process rather than putting it on our website and letting individuals teachers go in and apply for that. So that's an
022example of the changes they recommended for contract changes. Next slide. This is the heavy stuff. Um and this is where if we could just make it all happen. I'm feeling I feel really good. So, and that is that intersection between business management and information technology. Ideally, as a school district, we should be ready to hire. And hire meaning onboarding potential candidates that although they may not start until August at the beginning of the year, they have a contract signed, sealed, ready to go in March 1st. Let me clarify, we do offer early contracts. However, in this day and age, many pe many teach aspiring teachers are not willing to sign a contract unless you can guarantee them that school, that location, that position. With the way our process works, we can guarantee you will have
023a job. We cannot guarantee that you're going to be at that school. And that is a conversation that we have to say, are we willing to take that risk that I can say to this applicant who wants to move here from a from Florida that you're going to have a job with Prince George's County Public Schools. I cannot guarantee that location, but I'm going to work, you know, try my best. Um they recommended that we also in order so I I did I put this in a chart so that we could see some of the things we would need to do in order to make that happen. They also recommended that there be a change in our position control process. We have um pretty large number of employees that are on leave, but as they're
024on leave, if you remember, they're sitting in that position. So, in order to hire someone, although somebody's been out for a year, we have to hire on top of that person. So, we do have a lot of checks and balances before we allow people to fill a position where um I'm sure board members, you will hear from principles that I don't understand why I have to keep doing this when somebody has been out for a year, almost two years. It's because of the position control, which as you all know is um fiscal stewards over our money. That's how we know how much money we have in our budget and how much we're spending on human capital because you do have to also look at the people that are on leave. And then the last part
025is to really try to work towards more automated processes. So um we talked about creating one of the outside of the system resolutions was to create our own HR school. Um that way as we recruit people instead of waiting to know if that position is going to be open at Matapana we just put them into our HR school and we hold them there. Um once we get the budget if that position is at Matapana we can definitely move the person there. However, if it's not we're going to have to find them another place and we will have to take the risk that somebody says I don't even want to stay in the district. But we're gonna make it work. Um, and try to offer them places that of course, you know, meets their needs. Um,
026so I think that was what I had for this particular slide, but we can always come back. So go thank you Mia for the next one. They also recommended of course that we explore or look at a system that is a little bit more functional. Um right now individuals who are looking for jobs, you know, as a school district, we have to remember we have five different generations. Um but the generation now wants to be able to apply on their phone. Um and right now Oracle, which is our applicant, is the way people apply, it does not have that functionality. I don't know if you've ever tried to approve anything in Oracle through your phone. It is not phone friendly. Um, we did put in for the FY26 to as I think you've heard Chief
027How say, we are running a very outdated form of Oracle which does limit our functionality which does create to a lot of the external manual processes that we have put in place to make everything work. Um, but with frontline we are continuing down that course um, which is a applicant tracking system. Last year we piloted with several principles and this year all principles are using it and we're getting really good feedback. Next slide. This one their recommendations um were a lot of these things we have to decide if we're going to do it and understand the risk that we may take. So one right now we post a teacher pool. So if you want to teach with us FY26 teacher positions we do not post school the school we do not post vacancies by schools.
028Um is it something we can do? Absolutely. But it is a discussion that I think we need to have because when we think sometimes about optics we also have to think about certain schools are not going to have as many vacancies as other schools. And if we Maryland imports 68% of their educators. So individuals are going to as they're choosing to move to Maryland or choosing to come to our district, they are going to do Google searches. And so they are going to ask questions if let's say you want to go to again Jane do elementary school. Jane do elementary school is popular school, strong leadership, strong community. They're not going to have a lot of vacancies. We have some other schools that are um maybe does they don't have the strongest community that's supporting
029the work there as well as there's a lot of staff turnover. Um a lot of challenges maybe in the community that gets on the news. um and they're going to probably have a large number of vacancies and be the same school size and one who's doing their research is going to be looking at why. Um but it is something we can do and a lot of school districts do post by vacancies and that way you know you do fill a lot of schools fairly quickly because people have made it very clear I want to go there. However, not having a budget at this point of what school openings have does not allow us to do this. So, I wouldn't be able to even know um what positions we could post. We talked about the changes
030in the contract and then also one of the things they noticed and they heard from our principles is the conversation we've recently been having at the board meeting about principles are like, I am the only one here. I need some more support. It's a lot going on and that was one of the recommendations to provide an additional um 12-month position to support the principles and support that leadership. Next slide. This one speaks to just trying to have again better clarity of the rules. Again, when people are calling human resources, they have a need. Um and so if we're if our staffing team who's supposed to be like handinhand with the principal is spending 90% of their time um dealing with matters that are not in their control like if an employees on leave or benefits
031or payroll absent or risk management um because again we have a large group of employees in the district overall then it takes away from that sole focus of just the principal ship. So uh one of the things we're going to do is rename that office to talent acquisition and management because of course when you think HR you think the bees knees for everything. So you know that's one of the things we're doing July 1. We've worked on website enhancements to try to make the website more friendly and accessible in the sense of having people knowing where to navigate. Um, we also are going to look at de disabling a lot of the generic email accounts so that they go directly to an individual because you have to be very skilled at answering your personal email
032in the workplace as well as a generic one. Um, and if you are not skilled at that, one of those email accounts is not going to be responded to. So that is one of the things um that we're going to also start doing is limiting the email. There's also a move in a lot of businesses and with you all working outside of you know in various businesses you will also see as a institution sometimes we have to think do we want to keep doing phone and email because if I'm on the phone with you all day I'm not going to answer email and if I'm going to answer email I'm not going to be on the phone. So, something has to give. And I love that Mia is shaking her head. Something has to give.
033You can't do both nowadays. Um, and you, if you look, a lot of organizations no longer list phone numbers. I don't know if you've ever tried to return something to Amazon. You are going to talk to the AI chat box. You are not going to talk to a person. Um, now, one of the things they did recommend was that we have an HR call center. Um, my belief is we already have a call center and we're not answering the phone. So why would we have another call center? I also think from the bigger global perspective, we have an IT call center, we have a transportation call center, we have a HR call center. Um I would love it if if this is really something we need. I think uh Chair Jackson had mentioned it during
034the budget season about having a system call center that's a little bit more accessible rather than each of our high needs departments having their own. Um I think that would probably be a huge investment for us but as you all deal with constituents that is something I think we have to think about. Next slide. So the last part remember I told you it's actually a very small part that the that the HR staffing team it was recommended for them and as you can see most of them are complete. So they did recommend that we establish a principal advisory board and that has been done. uh they recommended that we have a selection and hiring guide book to train principles. We've done that as well as um develop tiered support systems. That is something we've always
035had. It's just going to shift depending on schools. As you know, some schools this year title one, but they may not be title one next year and then next year they're going to be title one or you know title one they've never been. So, as our system fluctuates between title one schools, CSI schools, ATSI schools, uh, community schools, this is something that's always going to fluctuate. And then the last one is that our HR partners actually meet with their principles twice a year. They meet with them in the fall to say, "Okay, you hired this many people. These are the individual you hired. How's it going? You know, what are you thinking? Was it a good hire? Did we have a good match?" um and then they meet with them in the spring to get
036ready for the next season for hiring. They did recommend that moving forward the instructional director who is the principal supervisor also be a part of those conversations. So, as we're looking at our hiring process, um the philosophy we have in Prince George's right now is more of a philosophy of we hire you um for that school. Some school districts hire and we hired you for Prince George's so you go where I tell you to go. Um in my previous district that was the philosophy. Um that's just something that we would need to talk about and because our work impacts everyone. There are some decisions that I'm just not comfortable making a decision by myself because at the end of the day, we're all in this together. And if that is a decision we want to
037make and if that is our philosophy, then we would have to be one band, one sound. And we'd also have to recognize that when I say we hired you for Prince George's and you will go where I tell you to go, then we also have to realize that with the market around here, they will choose to go someplace else. And so that's why I think that those are conversations that we have to have as a as a collective and not decisions that I would feel comfortable making by myself. Um, next slide. I think that was actually it. So um the uh I can share with you the actual full report. I do think it's online. It's it's pretty dense. I think most of you received it when back in January, but I really for the
038purpose of conversations and purpose of planning wanted to have something that when we met with principles or we met with our stakeholders was a little bit more palatable um and able to you know speak our language so we can plan thoughtfully together. So that concludes my presentation. Now I am not good with process. So am I supposed to call on people chair Dr. Anderfall or will you Oops, I'm on mute. Okay, sorry about that. Um, thank you so much um for your presentation, Dr. Baldwin. I think it was um very helpful. I'll now open the floor um for for discussion. Um, board member Brown, thank you so much. And um thank you so much Dr. Baldwin for your presentation. It was very insightful. Um I'm going to just kind of share a personal experience that
039I've had with PGCPS. Um when I wanted to transition out of retail to teaching, I applied of course to PGCPS because that's where I lived and I also applied to Montgomery County Public Schools both in December, both same time. And it took probably about a month um from December applying and then by January I started working um with my and I the the joke is that I still haven't heard from PGCPS you know um and so this was obviously years ago but what I can say is even based on the information that you gave me was the antiquated systems that you all use. I mean to hear that Google Docs is being used to me um that is not going to be a sufficient use obviously and if that's going to a general HR or
040talent at whatever email it's going yes it is not reaching the people that need to see it and so I wasn't really fully understanding of I guess what other opportunities you guys wanted to use outside of updating like what does that actually look like for you as far as like a timeline is concerned? And I'm so sorry, Mia. I I don't know if you're supposed to put the timeline uh the clock on, but I probably went over. Sorry. Okay, there you um so I appreciate your story and I I too tell staff I applied for a job in 2016 and they still haven't told me that I haven't gotten the job. Um, so that's why I am committed to like that's unacceptable and I'm here and I tell them that and I still haven't gotten
041the job. Um, and so I think, you know, I'm really a strong believer in children do what you do, not what you say, but also seek first to understand before being understood. So for me, what I've come to learn is um we've been short human capital within human resources. Um and I would also have to say that the way our negotiated agreements are written that um we you will always have a job with us. Um, and so we we have a lot of placements. Um, and I think the challenge when you have placements is sometimes we place people in offices and departments that they're just good people, good people. But that's that's not that's not what makes them happy. And when you have that happen, that is going to translate into how they um their
042level of urgency to get something done. So I do think when you talk about the human capital first and then also but we've changed that we have really superintendent house has been gracious to us last year and build and um actually giving us more positions um but I will say we've had a challenge filling our own positions um as brand ambassadors you know your reputation will follow you so that's been a challenge for us to fill some of those positions but then I I would also have to say I think the biggest thing that I'm finding here in my experience is really the our technology. Um it it causes a lot of errors. So I'm happy to work with Miss Thorps because I'm you know we've already had conversations about some of audits and what
043I expect and what she expects. But um I when I joined I also said to people I said you know internal audit is actually our friend. they are going to look for where we're broken and give us advice to fix it. Whether we choose to do it or not is a different story. So, I do think um our technology in a recent conversation we just had like we have a huge technology issue in the sense of having more up-to-date processes that can handle the volume of individuals that we are trying to bring in. We don't have the capacity. No, thank you for that clarification because uh we are all saying the same thing essentially and we all understand that this is a problem, right? We still want to always continue to be the biggest employer
044in the state of Maryland and so I think having these added systems, these updated systems is going to definitely help us with that. Thank you. That's a great timer. Yeah, member lost. Hi, thank you so much and thank you so much for all this information, Dr. Baldwin. Um and I I just want to continue on those lines that this board through the separating out of the audit committee from operations, budget, fiscal affairs that op you know this side of management did not get enough attention and I think we are really headed in the right direction at our board retreat. we will have um you know this many many months work we've been doing with the censure on risk assessment and I think really what what what you you've been hitting on and chief how um
045CFO chief how has been hitting on has been um systems that really through risk assessments like we saw today we could have been ahead of and I mean since I've been on where we've gone from about 2.2 billion to a3 billion operation and then then add in the capital projects and P3 on top of that. So that's been really significant and I think HR is like a way that we can see that stress. We have so many new positions community schools coordinators mental health practitioners I mean it's just really changed so much and the blue you know the blueprint in us keeping up. So I we definitely hear you and this this audit has been extremely helpful to me as a board member on perspective and priorities. So I want to thank you thank you
046and doc u Mr. House for that. Um but I do want to talk about what you you said something that always kind of as a bit of you know parent and board member kind of gets to me a little bit is around the concept that there's one school that's better to work at than another. that there's school leaders that you'd rather work for than others. And and I do think that this is obviously your relationship with, you know, the chief of of schools and leadership currently, Dr. Davis, but that these measurements around staff turnover, I I feel like what happens is, you know, I learn about some of this from as from PTO leaders and they they really kind of, you know, you know, nervous about talking about it, right? Nobody wants to talk about
047how many teachers left. They're afraid of retaliation. and they're afraid of what they say in exit interviews that they might not get hired in another school. And there's that piece of the culture has been around since before I became a parent a decade ago. And at some point the the leadership and chiefs of PGCPS have to change that retaliation fear culture to one of learning, continuous learning. And as a board member, I hope I can help with that and as a parent, but that level of information is not known because of fear, real or perceived. And so I encourage the chiefs to come together on that topic as you can. Uh, but my time is up and you know, I I guess I said more statements than questions, but that that that's what hit me
048during your presentation tonight. Thanks. You're welcome. Am I allowed to respond? Okay. If you if you'd like to respond. Yeah, feel free. Um and I think it's more just an acknowledgement. Thank you um chair Dr. Anderfall in the sense I just had a conversation today with one of our leaders where I said um people will work for you or people will leave because of you. Um, and so, you know, one of the things that I've come to realize here in this beautiful county of Prince George's County that I love with all my heart, um, there is a high level of fear with our human capital. Um, and it has taken me this many years to build trust. Um, that they understand I'm going to hold you accountable and my first reaction is not to fire
049you. Um, when I first came in, I think probably around 2017, I think there was almost 500 people. I came in 2018. Um, and at that time it was like 500 people out on administrative leave pending terminations for various things. Um, and we've created processes. We've created process maps um, and not PowerPoint presentations, but official process maps with the triangles and decision-makings. Um, we've created forms to create more standard operating. We've really maxed um in our use of administrative procedures that people know, send me a memo, you better tell me what administrative procedure, what section, what code. Um, and so just really rebuilding that culture that you don't have to be afraid, but I am going to hold you accountable. Um, and I think our recruitment plan, you know, I too came was a part
050of just being fearful to show in the data just the turnover at some of our schools. Um, it's it or attrition, it's it's not good. Um, but we're at a point where people don't want to teach anymore and if we don't start having the hard conversations, it only makes HR more difficult. So, I just want to acknowledge that and I I'm glad to hear that you all are looking at risk assessments because we've done several of them. Um, and I have a a lot of high level risk in my organization. And I think for me, I tried to say last was it year before last when Southwest broke down because of their infrastructure. Um, that's where we are. Our our foundation if we don't start investing in it, we're not going to be able to
051fly. Thank you for that. Um, oh, I wrote my stuff and then lost it on my it was stuck to my arm. Um, I have several questions if I may. Um, some of I have a few short ones that I just kind of want to rattle off just for points of clarification. Um and then if I have time or we go again then I'll ask the others. Um but you said a few things. So so one so the applicant tracking system. So believe you said we just purchased a new applicant tracking system or we're about to purchase an applicant tracking system. Is that I can't remember what what you said we just purchased and what we're preparing to purchase. What was that? So last year we purchased an applicant tracking system which we did not
052have previously. It's called Frontline and we piloted that tracking system with maybe 10 schools this year. This hiring season is fullblown implementation of frontline and so all principles are expected to use it. All right. And what were you using previously? Uh a Google document. Google doc. So okay for so for the mass influx of actual applications they were all being housed in a Google document where I'm assuming it was you know you had status columns or something that you create and then also people having access so if you were the one who created it and you left um there could be a risk that we don't have it so just and just for those who are watching I recruitment is a way to apply apply for a job. It is not a tracking system to
053say your application has been accepted. You have been selected for an interview. You've moved from the interview now to being a job offer. From the job offer to fingerprinting so every single step of the hiring process is what an applicant tracking system can do versus that's not what I recruitment does. Understood. And now we have that with Frontline. Yes. And that will go into effect this upcoming year with everyone. When will it go into effect for everyone? It's it's actually in effect right now. So, um, as you go on your visits, ask your principles about how they like Front Line. I'd love to see because we still have some people who are a little resistant to using it. So, it's a great pilot to also see. Um, but that's how they can also I think
054you've may have heard like people will say, "Well, I submitted this. I don't know where this person is." Well, if you're using Frontline, you can now see where your candidate is and in their journey to get to become part of the system. Okay. I know I'm about to run out of time, so I would I'd love to we can go into a second round if there are additional questions. I don't we don't need to vote on that. Correct. Mia, looks like you're about to say something. Okay. All right. Board member Brown. Thank you, Chair Dr. Ander. So, how long do you all keep the applications? Um, is it like a, you know, how sometimes you can just kind of keep a pool of applicants and then when that cert goes back out or if they're
055looking for they can just kind of go back into the pool to maybe of the people that didn't get in. Like, is that a process? So, that's the first question. The second question is the ones that were in the Google Docs, are you all I mean that this might be a lot thinking about transferring those applications to Frontline? Um I don't know if that was something that was thought of as well. Thank you. So um I would have to follow back up on the actual time frame for how long um an application can stay live. I know one of the things we did talk about was there are some positions where you may see it says open until filled. Um, one of the things I asked is that we no longer do that because that's
056how people can get lost when you keep something open until filled versus if you close it, assess it, then reopen it. Um, and so we did move forward with with that and it seems to be going well. Um, as far as because we are in frontline, we really should not be using any Google documents right now. Um, so all the new people, anyone who's applying should be in frontline and moving through the process. Um, so again, this is only our first year where all 200 some principles are supposed to be using it. Now, we do not use it on the um centrally managed administrative staffing side. We are still doing it manually. Um right now priorities are schools and it's a little less cumbersome to manage it on the in on the centrally managed or
057central office side. And the only reason why I asked about the Google, so if somebody were to apply in May, but then you guys open up frontline in June, like how would they have known y'all switched the system and now they're sitting like am I going to get hired? Am I not? So can you kind of explain a little bit about Sure. So anyone who's who's actually applying for jobs right now on the instructional side, they would be in frontline. So if you the only people from last year who may not have been picked up um they would have received some type of notification to ask them to reapply and then reapply and then we can put them in frontline. But we do have individuals who apply that for teaching positions that actually do Any
058other questions? Okay, then I have a few if I may. Um so you mentioned um so I I'll start with um so I'll start with the late resignations. Um so you you mentioned um just one of the challenges around late resignations and um you spoke to a couple of potential factors. I guess I'm just wondering um you know assuming that you all I don't know if upon folks read resigning, you do exit interviews, if you even have that opportunity or if people are just, you know, just just leaving without um like I don't I don't know what that process looks like and what you all are experiencing. So, I'm wondering if you all have done any type of capturing of um reasons for for a late resignation outside of some of what you've um stated
059um are potential reasons. Yes. So for everyone has the opportunity to do an exit interview. We do not have individuals who choose to take a part in it. Um very much I think similar to my only reasons I would think is what um board member Boozer Shrethers had mentioned. But one of the things we put in for the FY26, I think with Chair by Sher Briggs, was to actually use um a company to help us go out and now that someone may have left us and an outside entity call and capture that data. Um so that's what we're going to do for this upcoming year. the late resignations. I think um one of the things I also have to say is just as we look at negotiations in the districts, if you have individuals who
060can leave up until July 15th, they also get to see what's going on in other places. So, for example, we the last time we did our PGCA negotiations, we actually were number one in the market. So, we've consistently since I've been here done market studies. So we were number one in the market and then all other districts were following behind us. Unfortunately um we are now in the market but we are last in the market because we are back at the negotiations table where everyone else is finished negotiating. So if I'm a teacher and I have until July 15th and we're in negotiations actually get to see and try to map out where I may or may not want to go. So from a teacher perspective that that actually hurts us. um to I hope
061I answered your question. No, you did. Okay. I know my time's about to run out, but I'll just throw my other question in here. Um so wondering about the candidate experience overall. Um and just given the previous systems that we were using for um you know tracking candidates, we how many lost um in the process maybe who have not completed the application process who started it but did not complete it. I can just leave that there. Um unless you all would grant me some additional time for Dr. Baldwin to answer it at anyone else and I have questions. Fantastic. Dr. Ball, um, unfortunately the timer went off as you were asking I think the most critical part of the question which was um, do we know how many did you say do we know how
062many people we've lost in the process? Yeah. So, do we have any way of tracking that? Like I'm wondering if that is actually an an issue or something that we've experienced where because of our systems people have tried to start the application process and perhaps we've lost them. um whether it's because of delays or just because we for whatever reason, right, they just haven't been able to complete the process. I do not have that data. I can only tell you from a qualitative emotional email type of experience that I think we do lose a lot. Um but do I have the quantitative data? I do not. But that is something that when we um if or if the budget is passed, the money that we were going to use to engage an external company to
063collect this type of data and start creating more metric systems is something that I definitely can put on their radar. I think that's a great um example. And I will also I want to say thank you for using the word experience. That's a new thing I've been trying to push with everyone. Um, [Music] I'm You will hear a lot of people say service. And what I say to people is service means that I'm serving you. It doesn't mean that I did it kindly. It doesn't mean that I did it with care. It doesn't mean that I did it in a way to get you through. Um, it just means that I gave you what you asked for. And I really do want us, at least in human resources, to move from service to experience. I
064am not always going to give you the answer that you want. I'm just not. But I want you to walk away to say, "I had a good experience." So, when I hear like board member Brown saying like, you know, she didn't hear, that's not a good experience. Um, when I hear people saying I often get um I think the one thing people will say is I answer my email. Um, and it may not be the answer that you want, but I'm going to give you an answer. And no matter what answer I've given you, I've heard people say, "At least you responded." And I do think that we have to work on that. Um, and I am committed to that. So, thank you for using that word experience over service. Right. No, of course. Um,
065I just have a last recommendation here then moving forward should you already not um just in case you're not considering this with frontline um since now you'll have um you know a system where hopefully it's easier to track kind of how when and how people are entering into the process and hopefully their ability to move through the process seamlessly. It could be helpful to track um just what I described. So the number of candidates that are starting the process and actually completing it versus those who are not. Um the ideal obviously uh the ideal scenario is that people who are starting it are actually completing it whether they're actually receiving a job or not but the opposite would be unfortunate. No we would definitely do that. So, thank you for bringing that um you know,
066bringing that suggestion forward. Are there any other questions? Okay, I know it's 7:02, but I'll ask a final question to wrap it up if that's okay. Um Dr. Baldwin from your perspective. So obviously you shared strengths um um and some I guess opportunities that they identified and you spoke to a few that you felt were like the most you know as you went through. So I guess just to as a final takeaway here from your perspective given what you've already started work on some things that are still um to be started or to be completed what are what do you think um is the area where you think you will see the greatest impact um if you all are able to make some positive um and significant strides in the recommendations that were provided. Um
067thank you for that question. I think the biggest impact is being able to um hopefully um get a a more robust human resource information system. Um right now we're doing a lot of peacemailing. So Front Line does feed into Oracle, but there's a 24-hour feed. So that's another thing people are in. We've got this applicant tracking system. they're going to move, but then Front Line actually talks to Oracle, but then takes almost 24 hours to talk. So, you know, when you talk about delays, these things matter, especially at our most critical time. Um, I I'm really just hoping that the biggest impact I think we can see, and of course, this is not my area and it's more your area with Chief How is the way we do budgeting. Um, it is killing us. It
068it it is and I I don't have all the answers, but I know something has to give and maybe these implementations from blueprints and how they want us to do it can be helpful. But we have to be able to be competitive, which means we have to be able come March 1st for human resources to list on our website every single opening so that as people are graduating two months from March that they can say, I want to go there. That's not happening right now. And I don't have the answers to that, but I do think that that is, you know, as you think about task force and other things, we have to consider that. Thank you. Thank you for that, Dr. Baldwin. Okay. Well, if there are no further questions, um we'll just know
069I don't believe there are any other immediate followups that we discussed that would need to be provided following tonight's um meeting. But I'll say I am certainly looking forward to to seeing perhaps maybe next year some of the specific outcomes um that we've seen from implementing frontline for a full year. I guess at that point um at what point will it be a full year that it's actually been implemented? Dr. Baldwin? Um, so I want to say this time, so what is this the 1st of June? So I would have to say around 1 around the 1 of May. Okay. All right. So I'd be interested in seeing kind of some of what the experience has been um both for candidates as well as um for HR and what the outcomes have been as a
070result. So, not an immediate um next step or followup, but something I think that would be interesting to to see. Sure. If if we are able to go ahead and book that now for us to come back in May and give a presentation that that would be great. Um, I do want to say that we just just being mindful of some of the things that are currently happening that will or possibly have an impact is while we started our own human resource school and as people are putting in, we're putting them in there. Um, again, you know, I can always give updates in time we have another presentation and I will mark the day that we get the budget file. Um, and be able to then move people to these different positions. Um, and right
071now we're just relying on a principal saying yes, I have that opening, but they may not. So, we're going to take a look at that and then also definitely inviting you all to come to our job fair so you can experience it yourself. And then I really look forward to just continuing the collaborative conversation on how do we make this better. Um because at the end of the day, the children of Prince George's County deserve the very best. Great. Well, thank you so much again, Dr. Baldwin. Um thank you board members, committee members, staff who've attended um this evening's meeting and to the public. Hopefully this was also helpful um to you as well as we continue to work to improve um our human resources um office. Um there being no further business then this
072evening. The time is now 7:06 p.m. and the June 2nd 2025 board audit committee meeting is now adjourned. Have a good evening everyone. Thank you. Good night.