By Antonio D. French
Filed Friday, June 30 at 10:14 AM
Most Many of the employees of St. Louis Public Schools did not get paid today as scheduled. District spokesmen Johnny Little and Tony Sanders have not returned repeated calls, but sources in the district say the fault lies in the treasurer's office.
As we reported earlier this week, Superintendent Creg Williams turned those duties over to the district's interim chief financial officer, Cedric Lewis, after Enos Moss suddenly resigned from the post three weeks ago.
Developing...
UPDATE 1: Mary Armstrong, the president of the teachers' union, said today's payroll mistake affects all of the district's employees who get paid by direct deposit. She said she has asked the superintendent to make paper checks available to those employees today for pick-up at the district headquarters.
She said she has also asked the district to prepare letters addressed to the creditors of those employees facing non-sufficient funds (NSF) and late fees because of the today's error.
UPDATE 2: Tony Sanders, a district spokesman, said that principals are collecting names those teachers that "want or need" to get paid today and that checks will be delivered to those employees at the school sometime this afternoon.
Sanders would not say how the mistake occured, except to call it a "human error." He would not identify the particular human at fault.
UPDATE 3: Two thousand (out of approximately 5,000) employees were affected by today's direct deposit transmission error. District spokesman Tony Sanders pointed out that that is not "most" of the district's employees. And so we have corrected our original post to reflect that.
Sanders also wanted to clear up a couple of other things. He said the decision to give paper checks to only those employees who requested one was because had checks been written to all 2,000 employees, you would have some employees who would not be available today to receive them. Due to Independence Day holiday, some staff members would then not receive their pay until they returned next week -- or later for employees who are on vacation. It would also be difficult to notify those employees.
Sanders also pointed out that the error impacted all staff members who utilize direct deposit, not just teachers, as some have suggested.
UPDATE 4: Contrary to a promise from Dr. Williams emailed to all district staff, some employees did not receive paper checks by the end of the day. We are told that those employees who bank at U.S. Bank should see the funds available tomorrow. Those that bank at other institutions should see their funds available on Monday, July 3.
UPDATE 5: Here's a video of an interview we did this afternoon with the Local 420's president, Mary Armstrong...
15 Comments:
Imagine that. I bet Williams and the rest of the administration staff (especially at 801) got their paychecks with no problems. To bad the people who do the most work got dumped on again.
Friday, June 30, 2006 10:42:00 AM
Someone want to explain to me why the principal’s secretaries have to go through the exercise of creating a list when 801 has the names of all of the employees with direct deposit. It shouldn’t matter if they want or need a paycheck, THEY DESERVE THEIR PAYCHECK. I guess some executive, excuse me an administrator (our administrators do not deserve executive titles) had to meet a quota of decisions to show that he/she is doing their job. When 801 found the error they should have immediately starting writing out checks. But then again the finance department employees must be like the teenagers at a fast food restaurant who cannot make change without a calculator.
Friday, June 30, 2006 11:40:00 AM
The punch line to Brian Harris's coment:
The same way you miss a two million dollar bill to the pension fund.
Rimshot!
Friday, June 30, 2006 1:57:00 PM
How do you make a mistake like this - the same way you present an unbalanced budget and think that no one will notice you left out provisions for utility cost increases (the price of electricity and natural gas will stay the same as next year,) gasoline price increases (the price of gas will stay the same for the next twelve months,) benefit cost increases and unexpected repairs (if they are ubexpected, how can we busget for them? Easy, take a look at what has happened in the last three years, and figure it will be the same or worse.) And what about that pesky $7 million that has to be repaid. And maybe they should have put in an item for bills they get and then misplace.
Friday, June 30, 2006 3:13:00 PM
Reminds me of the title for that book, "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."
Friday, June 30, 2006 3:18:00 PM
The prolems with 801 are really coming into sight within the past month or two. If I were a teacher, this certainly validates what they have been saying about the ineptitude all-along.
If you can't deal with incompetence at the district level, how can you deal with incompetence in the classroom?
Friday, June 30, 2006 4:23:00 PM
Even though I'm not teaching summer school and wasn't looking for a paycheck today, I have to say it has been no fun financially so far this summer. First, our last paycheck on June 2nd was half of what we expected due to a payroll mistake. After that, for those of us who chose escrow, we were paid on June 16. The next escrow payment won't be until July 14. Then again July 28, aug. 11 and the last one is aug.25 (8 days after we return to work). By the time I have some money to enjoy the summer, I'll be back at work.
Friday, June 30, 2006 5:28:00 PM
Update!
The Checks were NOT delivered to the schools. The day ended for the teachers and Students at 2:15 PM. Many Teachers stayed until 3:00 PM for the Mythical check delivery. As with everyother SLPS operation, the checks never came. The teachers then were informed that if they wanted their check, they needed to go to 801 North 11th to get their checks. Upon arrival, the checks were NOT ready until 4:00 PM.
I believe in all fairness they need to pay the teachers for their time waiting for pay that should have been already deposited along with gasoline expenses.
Friday, June 30, 2006 5:37:00 PM
Did Williams or Irons miss any pay?
Will they be in town July 3rd and %th? I would like to get paid for 12 days a month @ $2,000+ per day-and then wonder why the younger teachers are distressed by not getting their pay.
Sunday, July 02, 2006 2:48:00 PM
You ask if Williams or Irons missed their pay. Even if they did, they could still have a "gay" ole time couldn't they?
Some men have no idea how transparent and laughable they are to the rest of the world. Did they end up in Williams apartment?
Sunday, July 02, 2006 8:43:00 PM
We know that Mary Armstrong got her check on T-I-M-E.......($99,000 a year????} So why is she AWOL most of the time? Why isn't she fighting for our jobs and the last five days of pay that we did not receive? Talk to us Mary. We are still waiting for your response. We need our missing money to pay our electric bill because the HEAT IS ON........
Tuesday, July 04, 2006 2:41:00 PM
For Mary Armstrong: I'm still waiting for you to address the fact that over l000 teachers received termination notices. Don't you know that you are putting the union in jeopardy of litigation? Both the school district and Local 420 could be sued since the school district did not follow "due process" and State policy procedures dictating how teachers are terminated. Seemingly the superintendent failed to review these policies, which specifies that a hearing procedure be conducted prior to such drastic measures.
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY Mary! I know you had enough to pay your electric bill,( unlike your constituents, who you are supposedly representing and protecting our interests) Yeah, RIGHT! We know that you bought lots of ribs with that $9000 per month check you got. HAVE A GOOD ONE MARY AND YOUR SELL-OUT EXECUTIVE BOARD.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006 3:07:00 PM
Sounds more like a union election campaign than genuine concerns to me.
She was there downtown for hours working with the mess. What did any of the complainers do? Please communicate and let us know.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 11:52:00 AM
This complainer has offered suggestions and solutions to try. But I have to belong to the solution union in order to be allowed to offer suggestions. Haven’t you ever noticed that in order to do a certain job you have to belong to that union (especially within the City of St. Louis)? A Union does not believe in cross training. This is so the company has to hire “specialized” people in order to get the job done. The other jobs I have had I was trained to do three to four different kinds of jobs and would do those jobs depending on need during my shift. For this complainer I can do several different types of jobs quite well but not allowed because I would be taking a job from a union member. No wonder so many companies look for other areas to run their companies more efficiently.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 12:55:00 PM
Yeah, the companies are right, right about decreasing the working middle class in this country and losing their pensions or defrauding them.
Seems to me there needs to be something between the present union's way and what companies do who do not care about their employees or treat them with dignity.
School district staff have suffered enough disrespect and indignities.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 5:46:00 PM
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