Williamstown/Lanesborough To Contract Out School Business Management
.jpg) Andrew Paquette, president of The Management Solution, said his company provides "$10 worth of service for $7." |
The union will be sending out a request for proposals for the position in the next few weeks but already has a company in mind.
School Union 71 and the Mount Greylock Regional High School Committee jointly heard a presentation from The Management Solution, an Auburn-based consulting company, on Monday about the ways to replace the soon to be vacant business manager position for all three schools.
"We explore all these thing that are trying to get blood from the stone and that comes from some outside of the box thinking," Andrew Paquette, the company's president said. "There is no stone unturned as to what we provide."
Paquette said the company's partners all boast lengthy resumes in various educational and finance positions - from state auditors to school superintendents - and joined together in 2006 to form the company. The company will provide various financial reports, give advice, attend meetings, help prepare budgets, provide monthly financial reports and can even join in union negotiations, he said.
"We provide soup to nuts business services," Paquette said.
The company's CEO David Lockwood, who boasted more of an educational background than Paquette, said that schools are often bogged down with the dollars and cents that they lose focus on education. This company will take care of the financial reporting according to the "best practices" and allow the administration to prioritize its spending and take a "big picture" view of the school's resources.
The company is currently working in five other school districts but Williamstown and Lanesborough could become the company's first regional school district.
The cost to the district is not yet known but Superintendent of Schools Rose Ellis said it is expected to be equivalent or less than the cost of a business manager. A relief to the district would be the cost of benefits, she said. The price is set according to the scope of work set by the school district but Lockwood added the company has been known to give a lot of additional services for free.
"We go substantially beyond the base level of service," Lockwood said.
As an example of additional services that would be available, Ellis said the company has a mechanical engineer on staff that will help with maintenance assessments and capital projects.
Lockwood said the financial partners are all well versed in the accountability standards of both the state Department of Revenue and the Department of Education. While there are up to 20 people working for the company, Lockwood said there will be one main contact person for the district. However, the other employees will be up to date about the district that can step in if needed.
Members from both the School Union and the School Committee peppered the company with questions about the arrangement for about an hour before deciding to issue a request. The officials asked the company about additional services, their experience with school districts, time conflicts and contract length.
"They sounded excellent," School Committee member Carrie Greene said.
Ellis said she had talked with the superintendents of the other districts that have contracted with them and received good reviews and prices. Additionally, the company had already made pitches to the chairmen of all three school committees and the high school's finance committee before Monday's meeting.
Ellis also said she had interviewed multiple candidates for the business manager position but none of them was as qualified as the company. The school's current business manager, Jennifer Coscia, is resigning from the position.
A draft request for proposal set the scope of work to be similar to the job description of the business manager and a final version is expected to be released in the next few weeks and the district could make a decision by Nov. 1.
