Will Gaston teacher pay issues come to CMS after switch next month? Officials say no
Local and state officials say Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ switch from “antiquated systems” to a new time-keeping program won’t cause the same issues for the district’s thousands of employees as a similar 2022 change in Gaston County.
A time-keeping system called Red Rover is set to launch for all CMS employees on August 10 in the first phase of a state-mandated change for payroll, human resources and business systems. CMS expects to fully switch to Oracle Cloud by 2027.
Officials attribute early problems with Red Rover—such as missing or incorrect pay for some summer school teachers — to coding and human errors, rather than to Oracle, a broader software system that integrates with others.
“The issues with payroll in CMS wouldn’t be an Oracle thing,” Barry Pace, N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s director of modernization, told The Observer. “The Oracle system is a long way from going live.”
Still, some teachers, like special education teacher Bettina Thomas, remain anxious because of glitches with Red Rover. She spoke out at a CMS Board of Education meeting earlier this month after she was missing pay for her work.
“Many teachers haven’t been paid and are unsure when they will be.” she said. “I’m still worried if my next paycheck will arrive on time, but during the school year is more reliable.”
Why the upgrades?
Currently, 10-month employees — most of CMS’ workforce, including teachers — rely on paper time cards and three separate payroll systems. The core system is 23 years old and slated for retirement.
“Historically, employees working in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools have experienced complications primarily due to our antiquated systems,” CMS said in a statement to The Observer.
In 2016, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1030, a budget bill that also address school system issues by funding the modernization of finance, payroll, and HR systems with the goal of improving data management for K-12 schools in North Carolina.
Problems from the start
When HB 1030 became law, Gaston was among the first districts to pilot upgrades, partnering with CherryRoad Technologies, which at the time was the only state-approved vendor for conversions to Oracle.
That decision led to payroll errors — employees with missing or incorrect pay, retirement contributions and deductions. Some teachers went unpaid for over a year which led to a settled lawsuit against the school district. Gaston’s superintendent, W. Jeffrey Booker also resigned amid the problems, but it’s unclear if they were the reason.
Gaston’s main issue was that schools struggled with periodic operating system updates, like an IOS update on an iPhone, which created new problems while Gaston was trying to fix existing ones, CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz told WFAE in February.
The Observer requested for an interview or comment from Kluttz. Both were denied. Multiple requests for comment from Gaston County Schools were not returned.
How is CMS different from Gaston?
CMS contracted with a different vendor than Gaston County, Applications Software Technology. The company will provide training and support to help CMS switch to the comprehensive Oracle System.
One benefit of CMS’ choice: experience setting up Oracle for school districts, Pace said.
“AST has helped convert double-digit school districts and at least four large districts using the Lawson system like CMS is now,” Pace said. “CMS has experienced folks in place with an experienced vendor that has successfully converted many schools. I’m confident the ‘Go Live’ of Oracle will be successful.”
Applications Software Technology told The Observer its representatives couldn’t discuss work with CMS because of a nondisclosure agreement.
Switching to Oracle will cost $33 million over four years, starting with a $16.5 million contract. The state has pledged $5 million and CMS is expected to ask for more.
Some initial difficulties
One reason for teacher nerves about a new system: implementing Red Rover, to digitally track hours and “effort” hasn’t gone smoothly.
“This system has a lot of glitches,” Thomas said in mid-July. “Some teachers could clock in but never out so it looks like they haven’t logged hours at all. Sometimes, the hours will just disappear or aren’t logged correctly.”
CMS attributed the issues to faulty coding and human error.
“Some of the issues we have experienced this summer are related to staff being coded incorrectly or staff signing into the incorrect job code or work location in Red Rover,” CMS said.
School officials and Red Rover leaders say the new system will ensure teachers are paid on time and streamline finding substitutes and tracking working time.
“Red Rover was built for K-12,” Daniel O’Shaughnesses, the CEO and co-found of Red Rover, told The Observer.
For the system to be successful, O’Shaughnesses said teachers need to know how to use it.
“There’s complexity with the size of CMS, even though we’ve helped bigger districts, but I think training is a key piece of this,” O’Shaughnesses said.
Thomas said summer school teachers weren’t given training on Red Rover.
CMS didn’t say how it would fix issues related to Red Rover. However, the school district told employees Tuesday morning it would offer training on the new system.
Next steps
Pace said that most modernization will happen behind the scenes, as CMS set up a bigger one-stop Oracle system and converts the payroll and other business systems by 2027.
However, Pace said CMS won’t rely on Oracle until it has close to 99% accuracy. There are safeguards to ensure the conversion goes smoothly.
CMS also remains confident that the conversion will be successful.
“While our anticipated ‘go live’ date is January 2027, we expect to see improvements between now and the official ‘go live’ date,” CMS said.
This story was originally published July 29, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
