September Status Report

1
Orleans Parish School Board Accounting, Human
Resource and Financial Management Plan and
Implementation Status Report 5
September Status Report Submitted October 4, 2005
2
Table of Contents

• Section Page
• Executive Summary 2
• Working Group Updates
• Financial Management Accounting 4
• Human Resources Payroll 7
• Procurement Inventory Management 14
• Information Technology 16
• Facilities Maintenance 19

3
Executive Summary

• Prior to the devastating impact of Hurricane
  Katrina, Alvarez Marsals (AMs) role as
  interim crisis managers turning around the
  troubled New Orleans Public School System
  (NOPS) had three distinct phases
• Stabilize the Crisis this encompassed the
  numerous controls we were implementing to control
  the overspending outside the classroom and lack
  of effective support being provided to the
  classroom by the organization (ie. controlling
  the checkbook, reviewing every purchase
  requisition, reducing the number of Oracle
  Superusers to 1, payroll benefits audit,
  issuing a 50M RAN financing, etc.)
• Develop a Restructuring Plan this encompassed
  developing revised general fund and special
  revenue budgets where NOPS anticipated revenues
  would exceed its anticipated expenditures.
• Execute building internal capacity within the
  organization to ultimately replace AM interim
  managers with permanent replacements.
• Post Katrina, our role as interim crisis
  managers has not changed. As well, our three
  phased strategy is also the same, however, with
  different tactics being implemented to achieve
  the same goal delivering a world class system
  through which public education is delivered to
  the children of New Orleans. This three phased
  restructuring approach can be summarized as
  follows
• Stabilize the Crisis The primary stakeholders
  of NOPS, our students and employees, were
  displaced around the country after New Orleans
  was flooded. We set up a crisis call center
  staffed with up to 20 operators as well as a
  crisis web site to communicate to and with our
  stakeholders. We secured critical backup tapes
  for Oracle, operating systems and student
  information from the Data Center in New Orleans 2
  days after Katrina hit. We were able to
  establish an operational NOPS Oracle environment
  in a disaster recovery site in New York. We
  performed site inspections with the aid of
  donated professionals from other public school
  districts and the Council of Great City Schools
  and identified 16 schools in Algiers/WestBank and
  Uptown that suffered minimal damage from the
  floods and issued emergency work orders to patch
  roofs and windows prior to Hurricane Ritas
  arrival.

4
Executive Summary (cont.)

• Develop a Restructuring Plan We have developed
  a plan to potentially open up to 8 schools in
  Algiers/West Bank in November. This plan is
  contingent upon at least three critical
  approvals i) student demand and teacher
  availability ii) EPA, City and other
  regulatory signoffs iii) state and federal
  funding. We have begun accepting expressions of
  interest to gauge demand levels by our students
  and employees to return to NOPS by November 2005.
  Expression of interest forms are capturing
  information from this population through our
  crisis call center, website, and eventually some
  local businesses in Algiers. Project worksheets
  are being developed under the guidance of FEMA,
  and bids are being developed and eventually
  competitively sourced to perform the repair and
  restoration work. Similarly, bids are being
  prepared for the delivery of key support systems
  including food, transportation, security
  monitoring, etc. The costs of the rehiring plan,
  payroll benefits, overhead, support
  infrastructure, etc are all being integrated into
  a comprehensive financial plan to be presented to
  the Board, State and Federal officials.
• Execute - We have submitted to the State a
  revised scope to include three additional
  responsibilities that were not part of our
  original contract scope
• Real Estate key interim leadership is being
  provided over the repair work of the 8 schools
  and longer term over the physical reconstruction
  of the entire school district. AM is providing
  the construction project management and
  development expertise to oversee this aspect of
  the rebuilding effort.
• Insurance Claims Recovery Management - key
  interim leadership is being provided over the
  creation, filing, submission and negotiation, and
  eventual receipt of insurance proceeds from both
  insurance carriers and FEMA that is necessary in
  order to fund the continued rebuilding effort
  described above.
• Facilities - key interim leadership is being
  provided in the ongoing day-to-day cleaning and
  maintenance related issues in getting the schools
  operational.
• The additions to our original scope will not
  result in an increasing in the contracts price.
  We have accelerated the time frame in building
  internal capacity within NOPS to eventually make
  redundant the services and expertise being
  provided by AM on an interim basis due to our
  learning curve over the past few months and no
  longer having the need to fix broken pre-existing
  systems, but rather build new systems from
  scratch.
• Finally, the longer term rebuild and renovation
  of the majority of NOPS schools that were
  damaged more heavily will be the subject of
  future status reports and planned in accordance
  with the Citys phased re-opening and
  repopulating process.

5
Financial Management Accounting

• Key Accomplishments
• Cash
• Modified weekly cash flow forecast for material
  changes caused by the post-hurricane environment,
  including projections of the following
• Remaining payroll amounts owed to the
  Districts pre-hurricane employees
• Crisis management call center for displaced
  employees
• Ongoing benefits costs for recalled employees
  and furloughed employees
• Protection and recovery of critical fixed
  assets including data and systems recovery
• Loss and/or substantial reduction of cash
  receipts from the City and State
• Critical administrative payroll and critical
  vendors post-hurricane and
• One-time and recurring costs to stand up
  schools.
• Deferred September 1, 2005, bond obligations and
  contacted all bond trustees and bond insurers to
  provide them with financial and operational
  updates.
• Communicated financial and operational updates to
  other key external constituencies related to the
  finances of the District, including bankers and
  bond counsel.
• Indefinitely postponed 50 million RAN financing
  that had been scheduled to close on August 31,
  the week of Hurricane Katrina.
• Began identifying school-based bank accounts
  (student activity fund accounts) listed under
  the school boards tax identification number, and
  froze all transactions in identified accounts to
  ensure security of these funds during immediate
  post-disaster timeframe. Continued to work with
  Liberty Bank and Whitney Bank on our outstanding
  requests to provide the District with remaining
  student activity bank account information for
  those accounts yet to be identified and frozen.
• Monitored daily cash receipt and disbursement
  transactions in each of the Districts bank
  accounts. Where visibility was not available
  during the weeks following the hurricane,
  contacted local banks to determine status.
• Obtained Federal Reserve safe-keeping receipts
  for local banks holding material funds of the
  District to ensure security of the Districts
  funds during the crisis.
• Began consolidating and closing unnecessary
  and/or dormant bank accounts, reducing the number
  of financial institutions with whom the District
  banks in order to streamline management of and
  place better controls in the treasury function.
• Obtained bond counsel opinion supporting the use
  of existing capital project funds (over 15
  million) to fund liquidity needs for the school
  building repair efforts.

6
Financial Management Accounting (cont.)

• Accounts Payable
• Processed critical payments to vendors necessary
  to resume essential activities, including travel
  reimbursement requests made by board members.
• Segregated pre-Katrina payables from post-Katrina
  liabilities for go-forward accounting purposes.
• Planning for proof of claim process to manage
  pre-Katrina liabilities to vendors.
• General Fund Budget
• Developed draft preliminary projection of school
  and other operating expenses based on revised
  school year and new enrollment assumptions for
  submission to the US Department of Education
• Began development of revised operating budget for
  FY 2005-6.
• General Accounting
• Supported payroll team in processing pre-Katrina
  payroll in an off-line system as a result of the
  damage to the District information systems.
• Began recording accounting activity in an
  off-line system until the Districts information
  systems are fully operational.
• Began analyzing and revising chart of accounts,
  including disabling of inactive values, to
  improve the accuracy and usefulness of accounting
  data in the go-forward systems environment.
• Began analyzing cross validation business rules
  in the oracle system to improve the accuracy and
  usefulness of accounting data in the go-forward
  systems environment.
• Met with Postlewaite Netterville, the
  Districts external auditors, to discuss options
  and strategies to ensure accuracy and usefulness
  of accounting data in the go-forward systems
  environment, including the potential creation of
  a new oracle instance.
• Develop short-term plan to process July and
  August transactions against the revised chart of
  accounts to identify exceptions/errors.
• Special Revenue Accounting Claims
• Visited the Algiers central administration
  building to begin documentation recovery efforts
  for special revenue claims.

7
Financial Management Accounting (cont.)

• Organizational / Administrative / Project
  Management / Crisis Management
• Worked with the Interim Superintendent to
  identify employees necessary for continued
  operations and organized temporary offices at the
  Louisiana Department of Education.
• Met extensively with FEMA representatives to
  determine the procedures, timing, and scope for
  federal claims related to hurricane damage.
• Coordinated with insurance carriers to collect
  claims for hurricane damages.
• Work Planned For Upcoming Weeks
• Meet with federal, state and local officials to
  articulate anticipated funding requirements of
  the District in FY 2005-6.
• Assess anticipated revenue streams from the
  federal, state and local governments in order to
  determine the Districts ability to pay its
  obligations on a go-forward basis.
• Seek board resolution to approve usage of capital
  project funds for Katrina-related school building
  repairs.
• Finish identifying and freezing all student
  activity bank accounts.
• Finish closing dormant bank accounts and
  consolidate operating and payroll accounts with
  two financial institutions.
• Complete revisions and clean-up to the chart of
  accounts and cross validation accounting rules in
  oracle system.
• Define requirements for implementation of a new
  instance of Oracle for accounting data transfer
  interim post-hurricane accounting data into
  Oracle.
• Assist HR and Payroll in defining requirements
  for new HR data warehousing environment.
• Propose to the Board the new operating budget for
  FY 2005-6.
• Implement new operating budget after Board
  approval.
• Identify additional finance department personnel
  needs and recruit temporary and permanent
  employees as appropriate.
• Process the Success for All (SFA) documentation
  for payment and claims reimbursement.
• If applicable, begin revising special revenue
  budgets based upon anticipated student
  enrollment. Build special revenue budget
  scenarios for various student enrollment levels,
  where applicable.

8
Human Resources and Payroll

• Summary of Activities
• Human Resources
• Established a call center within 24 hours
  post-Katrina to locate New Orleans Public School
  employees, disseminate information and respond to
  questions. To date, we have located almost 7,000
  employees through this call center. We have
  averaged 2,000 calls a week. Maintained a record
  of the calls and responses. As an example, one
  day last week included
• 594 - Employees called regarding check that has
  now been picked-up.
• 375 - Employees were paid and initial call to
  provide MTCN needs to be made (or notification of
  supplemental check w/o MTCN).
• 287 - Employees were NOT paid but has called
  looking for payment data.
• 289 - Employees have specific questions and need
  to be contacted (i.e.-questions on amount of
  payment, deductions, benefits, etc).
• 56 - Employees that we have called and left
  messages for. They will call back if they have
  further questions/issues.
• 220 Incomplete tickets Contact phone
  number/email address for the employee not
  provided in ticket details.
• 12 Specific questions that do not deal with
  payroll issues.
• Established a NOPS website to increase
  communication to parents, students and employees
  of NOPS (i.e., Frequently Asked Questions,
  current press releases and important information
  for NOPS parents and employees).
• Updated the call center and website Frequently
  Asked Questions daily based on anticipated and
  repeat employee questions.
• Conducted internal and external meetings with key
  stakeholders, including UTNO, PANOPSI, and NOPS
  staff, to develop effective recruiting, staffing
  and retaining strategy for up to 16 schools so
  that we can potentially have those schools up and
  running during November, 2005.
• Drafted HR related internal and external
  communications including press releases, website
  communications, FAQs, and call center scripts.
• Developed a process for Student and Employee
  Indication of Interest.
• Collected and communicated with 40 organizations
  and individuals who have offered assistance and
  donations for New Orleans Public Schools so that
  we can be prepared to accept their donations of
  books, desks, or funds (e.g., 10 laptops from
  Rollins College).

9
Human Resources and Payroll (cont.)

• Summary of Activities (Cont.)
• Developed Student and Employee Indication of
  Interest forms (web-based hard copy) to garner
  an understanding of those NOPS Parents and
  Employees who would like to return to the
  district, given the opportunity.
• Developed Employee Verification form for those
  NOPS employees who will be brought back to ensure
  clarity and agreement on salary, benefits,
  position, title, location, deductions, etc.
• Built agreements with external stakeholders to
  post job opportunities outside of the Parish in
  an effort to support NOPS employees in generating
  an income while they are on Disaster Leave.
• Drafted a motion to put before the board to
  declare NOPS employees on Disaster Leave so that
  they could be eligible for and begin receiving
  unemployment.
• Began verifying NOPS employees employment so
  that they can secure alternate job opportunities
  and housing.
• Conducted a best practice study on staffing in
  large, urban, inner city schools including cities
  like Boston, Cleveland, Indianapolis and
  Jefferson County.
• Calculated estimated vacation and sick leave
  liabilities.
• Began process to determine ongoing HR data
  management/system requirements.
• Began processing of terminations, employment
  verification requests, mortgage requests, etc.
• Helped draft the Disaster Leave Motion that was
  approved by the BOD
• Scheduled and attended a meeting with the
  Louisiana Department of Labor Unemployment
  Insurance Division to confirm NOPS employees
  eligibility for Unemployment instead of Disaster
  Unemployment Assistance. Currently working with
  the agency to provide and receive the necessary
  information required for eligibility and
  reporting purposes.
• Met with NOPS third party unemployment
  administrator, Temple Resource Management, to
  determine the appropriate level of assistance
  they can provide as a result of the Disaster
  Leave determination for NOPS employees.
  Reviewing and revising TRMs proposed contract,
  which may be able to reduce the amount of our
  state reimbursement.
• Scheduled and attended meetings with the Teachers
  Retirement System of Louisiana, Louisiana State
  Employees Retirement System, and Louisiana School
  Employees Retirement System to discuss procedures
  for assisting NOPS employees who are interested
  in retiring or had questions about DROP.
• Responded to questions from the agencies
  regarding employee status and developed scripts
  for the various retirement agencies to response
  to questions from NOPS employees.

10
Human Resources and Payroll (cont.)

• Summary of Activities (cont.)
• Working with Coventry to develop a plan to
  provide continuing healthcare coverage to
  impacted employees. Coordinated September
  premium payments and participant eligibility for
  September October. Working to try to resolve
  participant discrepancies related to the
  non-completion of the open enrollment process.
• Continued reviewing the red-lined version of
  Coventry contact. Received 4th Amendment to
  previous contact in lieu of new contract.
• Worked with third benefits party administrator,
  Fringe Benefit Management Company, to assist with
  the continuation of non-Coventry benefits.
  Coordinating the distribution of COBRA notices
  and the collection/remittance of COBRA premiums
  for eligible individuals.
• Worked with UTNO regarding the provision of
  benefits to members through the Health Welfare
  Fund, including Coventry and FBMC/FARA benefits.
• Coordinated Workers Compensation payments with
  our third party administrator, Hammerman
  Gainer. Working to create a process for meeting
  our statutory obligations and manage cash flow.
• Assisted AFT and LFT as they were trying to
  locate their members/our employees. Tried to
  utilize their website for job opportunity
  postings. Arranged to have job postings put on
  LDE website.
• Payroll
• Located payroll employees and updated contact
  information.
• Worked with IT, Finance, and HRIT resources to
  develop an Excel-based estimated payroll which
  was disbursed via Western Union on 9/13/2005.
• Using an existing list of current employees and
  salaries, performed analyses and used filters to
  identify the employee population and salaries
  eligible for estimated payroll payments
• Screened the employee population for retirement
  plan participation and assigned relevant
  employees to the assumed relevant retirement
  plan
• Analyzed recent Coventry file and matched against
  estimated payroll file matched appropriate
  Coventry plan level for all paid employees
• Analyzed file received from State of Louisiana to
  determine certification status of all personnel
  and arranged PEP payment for appropriate
  certificated personnel
• Calculated federal, state, Coventry,
  retirement/social security, and Medicare
  withholdings for paid employees

11
Human Resources and Payroll (cont.)

• Communicated with Western Union to determine the
  content and format of payroll data to be
  transmitted
• Sent all estimated payroll files to Western Union
  and performed reconciliations against
  returned/processed Western Union files
• Compared estimated payroll against actual payroll
  calculations and calculated difference, if any,
  owed to each employee.
• Worked with HRIT and IT resources to bring up an
  operating Oracle instance and production
  environment.
• Processed the actual payroll by 9/14.
• Summary of Activities
• Began reconciliation process between Estimated
  payroll and Actual payroll. Expected completion
  by 10/7/2005.
• Worked with Coventry benefits provider and HR
  staff to develop move ahead plans for the month
  of September concerning employee benefits.
• Continuing to work with Western Union on payroll
  funds disbursement.
• Beginning the process of developing plans and
  procedures for perfecting FEMA related claims as
  they pertain to payroll costs.
• Developed plans and procedures for the filing of
  payroll tax returns subsequent to the last Oracle
  based payroll.
• Developed RFP for Outsourced Payroll/HR vendors.
• Beginning to develop plans and processes for the
  go-forward payroll system and department.
• Worked with ADP to develop a short term, interim,
  payroll processing and disbursing solution.
• Implemented the ADP PC/PW payroll system.
• Began the process of reconciling and closing the
  Oracle Payroll System and working with ADP to
  print 2005 W2s.
• Began the process of collecting and storing
  necessary Oracle system payroll data.
• Began developing plans and processes to
  facilitate the opening of schools and additions
  of returning personnel to payroll system by
  11/01/2005.

12
Human Resources and Payroll (cont.)

• Summary of Activities (cont.)
• Performing general payroll clean-up activities.
• Developed new payroll calendar for remainder of
  2005.
• Converted payroll data to ADP payroll format.
• Worked with finance and accounting to develop new
  accounting string structure for go-forward
  payroll system.
• Assisted HRIT and budget personnel in activities
  involving Position Control development.
• Analyzed earnings and deduction element.
• Work Planned For Upcoming Weeks
• Human Resources
• Continue to maintain and monitor call center to
  locate New Orleans Public School employees,
  disseminate information and respond to questions.
  
• Continue to monitor and update NOPS website to
  increase communication to parents, students and
  employees of NOPS (i.e., Frequently Asked
  Questions, current press releases and important
  information for NOPS parents and employees).
• Monitor and analyze Student and Employee
  Indication of Interest via web-based hard copy
  forms.
• Begin to execute recruiting, staffing and
  retaining strategy for up to 16 schools.
• Develop, as required, HR related internal and
  external communications including press releases,
  website communications, FAQs, and call center
  scripts.
• Continue to collect and communicated with donor
  organizations and individuals who have offered
  assistance and donations for NOPS so that we can
  be prepared to accept their donations of books,
  desks, or funds.
• Populate Employee Verification form for those
  NOPS employees who are brought back to ensure
  confirmation, clarity and agreement on salary,
  benefits, position, title, location, deductions,
  etc.
• Continue to develop agreements with external
  stakeholders to post job opportunities outside of
  the Parish in an effort to support NOPS employees
  in securing employment while they are on Disaster
  Leave.
• Continue to verifying and processing of NOPS
  terminations, employment verification requests,
  mortgage requests, etc.

13
Human Resources and Payroll (cont.)

• Work Planned For Upcoming Weeks (cont.)
• Continue process to determine ongoing HR data
  management/system (position control) requirements
  including strategic outsourcing opportunities.
• Continue to work through Unemployment Insurance
  to confirm NOPS employees eligibility for
  Unemployment instead of Disaster Unemployment
  Assistance. Work with the agency to provide and
  receive the necessary information required for
  eligibility and reporting purposes.
• Revise TRMs (unemployment TPA) proposed
  contract, to reduce the amount of our state
  reimbursement.
• Finalize procedures for assisting NOPS employees
  who are interested in retiring or had questions
  about DROP.
• Continue to respond to questions from the
  Retirement agencies regarding employee status and
  develop scripts for the various retirement
  agencies to respond to questions from NOPS
  employees.
• Work with Coventry to finalize a plan to provide
  continuing healthcare coverage to impacted
  employees. Coordinate September premium payments
  and participant eligibility for September
  October. Work to try to resolve participant
  discrepancies related to the non-completion of
  the open enrollment process.
• Summary of Activities
• Finalize the red-lined version of Coventry
  contact.
• Work with third benefits party administrator,
  Fringe Benefit Management Company, to assist with
  the continuation of non-Coventry benefits.
  Coordinate the distribution of COBRA notices and
  the collection/remittance of COBRA premiums for
  eligible individuals.
• Determine which non-healthcare coverages (i.e.,
  dental, vision, life, etc) to continue,
  eliminate, or amend.
• Work with UTNO regarding the provision of
  benefits to members through the Health Welfare
  Fund, including Coventry and FBMC/FARA benefits.
• Continue to coordinate Workers Compensation
  payments with our third party administrator,
  Hammerman Gainer. Create a process for meeting
  our statutory obligations and manage cash flow.
• Finalize staffing, hiring and on-boarding process
  for NOPS and non-NOPS employees.
• Develop NOPS organization charts.

14
Human Resources and Payroll (cont.)

• Summary of Activities (cont.)
• Payroll
• Continue to located payroll employees, update
  contact information and respond to payroll
  questions.
• Reconciliation process between Estimated payroll
  and Actual payroll. Expected completion by
  10/7/2005.
• Continue to work with HRIT and IT resources to
  bring up an operating Oracle instance and
  production environment.
• Process bi-weekly payroll for employees brought
  back.
• Finalize plans and procedures for perfecting FEMA
  related claims as they pertain to payroll costs.
• Finalize plans and procedures for the filing of
  payroll tax returns subsequent to the last Oracle
  based payroll.
• Continue to develop plans and processes for the
  go-forward payroll system and department to
  include decision regarding earning and deduction
  elements.
• Refine the ADP PC/PW payroll system, interim,
  payroll processing and disbursing solution.
• Reconcile and close the Oracle Payroll System and
  work with ADP to print 2005 W2s.
• Collect and store necessary Oracle system payroll
  data.
• Continue to evaluate new risk environment and
  developing revised payroll controls.
• Continue to refine new payroll time entry
  processes.
• Continue to perform general payroll clean-up
  activities.
• Continue to work with finance and accounting to
  develop new accounting string structure for
  go-forward payroll system.

15
Procurement

• Summary of Activities
• Reviewed District Insurance Policies.
• Various conversations with Districts Risk
  Manager concerning Insurance Policies.
• Reviewed LA state emergency procedures/policies.
• Attended various meetings with Department of
  Education, FEMA, OEP.
• Reviewed FEMA Public Assistance materials,
  policies, and procedures.
• Read and Reviewed 44 CFR Part 206 and Part 13 of
  the Stafford Disaster Act.
• Arranged for tours of the Council for the Great
  City Schools at various school facility/properties
  .
• Coordinated with Security personnel in securing
  open properties.
• Worked with Facilities to properly procure
  emergency contract repairs on 10 schools.
• Reviewed Districts and States Emergency
  Procurement Policies.
• Developed interim, non-Oracle based Requisition
  and Purchasing processes.
• Began developing informal RFPs for Construction
  services, Custodial services and Environmental
  services.
• Met with States Child Nutrition officials in
  developing an interim Food Service Program.
• Worked with Transportation department in
  developing informal RFPs to provide interim
  transportation services.
• Worked with Security department in developing an
  interim, near term Security plan.
• Created timesheets for Security personnel in
  order for them to track time for FEMA
  reimbursement purposes.
• Participated in various meetings and follow-up
  discussions with FEMA, LDE, NOPS and AM
  personnel.
• Met with local Councilwoman of Algiers and
  National Guard representative to seek help in
  debris removal and other general clean-up
  activities along with seeking temporary lodgings
  for AM and NOPS personnel in Algiers.

16
Procurement (cont.)

• Work Planned For Upcoming Weeks
• Prepare and send informal RFPs for
• General Contracting Construction Services
• Environmental Consulting Services
• Janitorial and Custodial Services
• HVAC Repair and Contracting Services
• Transportation Services
• Food Services (procurement of food supplies only)
• Complete implementation of Emergency Procurement
  processes/procedures.
• Work with the IT department to map/upload manual
  Emergency Procurement process/procedures with
  Oracle.
• Research and implement strategic sourcing
  arrangements for
• Office and school supplies
• Computers, printers and other related peripherals
• Copiers, fax machines and other related
  peripherals
• Work with the Security department to establish
  appropriate manpower levels and procure supplies
  necessary to re-establish security presence at
  schools.
• Work collaboratively with State Officials and the
  Child Nutrition department to provide food
  services for initial school openings.

17
Information Technology

• Summary of Activities
• Secured a Post-Katrina Disaster Recovery site and
  established an operational NOPS Oracle
  environment
• Secured backup tapes for Oracle, operating
  systems and student information from Data Center
  in New Orleans
• Negotiated a processing contract with IBM to use
  their disaster recovery data center in Tuxedo,
  New York
• Transported and delivered 170 backup tapes
• Restored operating systems and management systems
• Restored Oracle in Test and Production instances
• Established a VPN for access by NOPS and AM
  users to Oracle applications
• Located and secured key NOPS IT leadership and
  personnel
• Processed a Post-Katrina Payroll
• Validated the data from the backup tapes as NOPS
  Oracle payroll and HR information
• Located and secured key NOPS payroll personnel
  for processing of payroll from the AM Houston
  office accessing the Oracle applications located
  at the IBM disaster recovery data center in New
  York
• Facilitated and supported the running of three
  payroll cycles in a production instance to create
  the payroll for the 3 payroll cycles disrupted by
  Katrina in an organized and systematic process
  with appropriate backups and security
• Concurrent to the processing of the Oracle
  payroll, facilitated and supported the
  development of an payroll advance file for
  employees distributed around the country so they
  could be paid as soon as possible
• Supported the development roll-out of a
  pre-registration call center for parents of
  students
• Supported the development of the AM NOPS website

18
Information Technology (cont.)

• Communicated with the state CIOs of New York,
  Michigan and Utah and the independent school
  districts in Dallas and Richardson, Texas, where
  Oracle Public Sector is also implemented to
  determine what assistance could be offered
• Performed a high-level evaluation of other
  financial software solutions for the short-term
  bridge period and concluded that Oracle would
  scale much better than the other software
  solutions
• Negotiated and established a short-term bridge
  payroll solution with ADP to process payroll for
  the next few months while a longer-term payroll
  and possibly HR solution goes to RFP and is
  selected
• Negotiating with IBM, Oracle and Savvis for
  outsourcing of the Oracle Financial applications
  for a bridge solution while a longer-term hosting
  solution goes to RFP and is selected
• Assessed the NOPS IT infrastructure and
  reestablished operations where appropriate
• Performed a physical assessment of the data
  center at 3510 General De Gaulle and determined
  that the building was un-inhabitable and
  unsuitable for housing NOPS data center assets
• Assessing the IT assets at schools to insure that
  as schools return to operations and that the
  computers and network connectivity are working
• Developed an interim plan for the non-Oracle
  applications/systems to reside at a 3rd party
  data center. Negotiations BellSouth, Cox
  Communications or Network Technology Group were
  completed. Cox Communications, our existing
  network and telephone carrier, has offered their
  New Orleans data center facilities free of charge
  for as long as NOPS needs this transitional
  support
• Reestablishing the following key operations of
  the systems
• SASI The Student Information System
• Winsnap cafeteria systems
• Telephone and data networks
• Instructional Technology Distance Learning
• Help Desk and PC Support
• Email and website
• Terminated Verizon Blackberry users for
  employees not on NOPS active payroll

19
Information Technology (cont.)

• Assisted and supported the definition of the new
  HR, Payroll, Financials and Procurement
• operating model and Oracle instance
• Working with the Finance Team and state auditors
  to define regulatory reporting data
  requirements
• Working with Finance and HR/Payroll Teams to
  design operating model requirements to align with
  the rebuilding of the schools and the return of
  students teachers
• Working with Finance and HR/Payroll Teams to
  design requirements to align with the rebuilding
  of the schools and the return of students
  teachers
• Researching document management solutions for
  FEMA documentation reporting
• Supported communications
• Interacted with the media regarding the disaster
  recovery experience
• Facilitated the development of joint NOPS AM
  work plan for Post-Katrina activities

20
Facilities and Maintenance

• Executive Summary
• Over the last month, the Facilities Maintenance
  team has focused on assessing the damage
  inflicted on the Orleans Parish schools due to
  Hurricane Katrina, identifying those schools that
  are best suited to be re-opened and initiating a
  plan to repair the damages.
• In order to assess the damage to the schools, we
  contacted the Council for Great City Schools for
  assistance. This non-profit organization offered
  six engineers/architects to work with the
  AM/NOPS team to perform an initial assessment
  and to provide their input on how best to address
  the situation based on their prior experiences.
  Over a two day time period, the team assessed 21
  schools across the West Bank and Uptown District.
  Excessive flooding was not the main issue at
  these sites. Rather, most of these schools
  exhibited damage due to high winds that resulted
  in broken windows, damage to roofs, downed gutter
  and water spouts, broken branches and general
  debris. Additionally, the Hurricane provided
  power outages, which subsequently resulted in the
  rotting of perishable foods and various degrees
  of mold and mildew.
• After performing the assessment of the schools,
  the Council for Great City Schools made a
  recommendation that up to 16 of these schools
  could be re-opened in a relatively short time
  period. These schools included the following
• West Bank Schools
• Behrman Walker Harte Karr
• Fischer Eisenhower Rosenwald Henderson
• Uptown District
• Audubon Banneker Arthur Ashe Lusher Extension
• Bauduit Allen McNair McDonough 7
• Lusher Extension, as well as Lusher, have been
  identified as Charter schools by Tulane.
  Therefore, we are responsible for making repairs
  in order to allow them to open the schools on
  January 1st, but we are not responsible for
  staffing these facilities.
• We subsequently met with Mayor Ray Nagin and
  decided to develop a plan for opening those
  schools on the West Bank only for November,
  pending the demand level shown by interested
  students. In the Mayors opinion, the Uptown
  District still does not have drinkable water and
  is resource-constrained regarding
  hospital/medical facilities and sewage capacity.
  The Mayor suggested we concentrate on the West
  Bank Schools for November and allow some time to
  lapse for Uptown and other areas, as the City
  brings back essential services in those areas
  more gradually than our November 2005 timeframe.
  We concur with the Mayor as our primary concern
  is the health and welfare of our students and
  employees.

21
Facilities and Maintenance (cont.)

• Executive Summary (cont.)
• The plan to repair the schools for a possible
  November re-opening has followed a multi-step
  process. First, the team quickly contacted
  several vendors to make emergency repairs, e.g.
  boarding up holes on the roof, boarding up broken
  windows, etc., in order to limit any further
  damage. Secondly, the team went back to the 16
  priority schools to perform detailed assessments
  where we quantified all repairs to be made.
  Simultaneously, we met with FEMA representatives
  several times to ensure that our documentation
  and level of detail was meeting their
  expectations.
• The detailed assessments are in the process of
  being consolidated. We will send them to FEMA,
  who will subsequently create the Project
  Worksheets and initiate the process for future
  reimbursement. The detailed assessments are also
  being delivered to various General Contractors as
  part of an overall Request For Proposal (RFP) to
  determine who will make the repairs to the
  schools. In addition to identifying the General
  Contractor, the team has begun working with the
  Procurement team to develop Bid packages to
  address various other needs, including custodial,
  environmental, food services, transportation and
  waste removal.

22
Facilities and Maintenance (cont.)

• Key Accomplishments
• Developed plan for assessing damage to schools
  with intent of determining when to re-open
  schools.
• Developed Facilities Maintenance Workplan to
  help focus our efforts for the coming weeks.
• Assembled team to assess schools most likely to
  have received least damage. Team members
  included 6 members from the Council for Greater
  City Schools, UTNO representative, FEMA
  representatives, Johnson Controls, NOPS and AM
  resources.
• Teams inspected 21 schools across the West Bank
  and Uptown districts.
• Outcome of the inspection was the determination
  that the following 16 schools could be opened in
  the November time period West Bank schools
  (Behrman, Walker, Fischer, Eisenhower, Harte,
  Karr, Rosenwald and Henderson) and Uptown schools
  (Audobon, Banneker, Lusher Extension, Arthur
  Ashe, Badouin, McD 7 , Allen, McNair). As a
  note, Lusher Extension is now a Charter school
  for Tulane and therefore needs to be repaired by
  January 1st.
• Facilities Maintenance workplan developed to
  guide team towards a November 1st school opening.
• Paul L. and Frank gained access to Almonaster
  site on Tuesday, September 20th to obtain keys to
  schools. Keys had rust removed and were cleaned
  in order to utilize.
• Following the prioritized school listing, Paul
  and Frank accessed schools to ensure rooms were
  open and to determine cases where rooms could not
  be opened.
• Contacted military group in West Bank to assist
  in getting the 8 West Bank schools ready.
  Military will mow lawns, weed and pick-up
  garbage/debris.
• Met with Johnson Controls on Tuesday, September
  20th to discuss short term and long term needs
  for the schools.
• After gaining agreement on the 16 priority
  schools to re-open, the Facilities Maintenance
  team contacted the appropriate contractors to
  perform emergency repairs, e.g. close holes in
  the roof, board up broken windows, secure access
  to facilities, etc.
• Met with FEMA (Michael Jacques) on Thursday,
  September 22nd to discuss project worksheet
  development process. Due to limited FEMA
  resource availability (re Hurricane Rita), Ron
  Leone, Amy Carbonette and Marty McFarland
  inspected schools, developed detailed assessments
  and then reviewed with Michael Jacques on Monday,
  September 26th to get his feedback on the
  content.
• Amy, Ron and Marty performed detailed assessments
  of the 16 priority schools between Monday,
  September 26th Wednesday, September 28th
• Met with Procurement to develop General
  Contractor bid.

23
Facilities and Maintenance (cont.)

• Key Accomplishments (cont.)
• Met with an Environmental Group (EEG) on
  Wednesday, September 28th to begin process of
  collecting key criteria to be included in the RFP
  package.
• Met with Custodial Services Group (AME) on
  Wednesday, September 28th to begin process of
  collecting key criteria to be included in the RFP
  package.
• Coordinated access to schools with Risk
  Management (Greg Risher) in order to allow for
  Insurance Adjuster reviews.
• Coordinated access to schools with IT team to
  allow for them to perform detailed assessments.
• Paul and Frank determined the number of external
  access points to the schools in order to plan for
  implementing a standard locking system.
• Met with Johnson Controls on Friday, September
  30th to discuss HVAC issues per the 16 priority
  sites and performing an operational assessment to
  ensure were ready for school re-opening.
• Performed a detailed assessment of the West Bank
  Transportation Depot to provide feedback to
  potential transportation companies, as well as to
  include repair needs in the General Contractor
  RFP.
• Work Planned for Upcoming Weeks
• Complete and distribute RFP packages to support
  the need for the General Contractor,
  Environmental group, Custodial Services, Waste
  Removal, HVAC and Transportation.
• Confirm plan for implementing a standard locking
  system across the schools.
• Develop and confirm a plan as to how we can best
  track the progress of the various providers who
  will soon begin work on the 16 priority schools.
• Conduct QA calls and site visits with the
  various bidders.
• Work with the Procurement to ensure we are
  following the correct process, i.e.
  documentation, approvals, etc.
• Gather bids and select service providers.
• Perform detailed assessment of fire alarm and
  intercom systems to determine needs.

24
Facilities and Maintenance (cont.)

• Issues, Comments and Other
• The priority issue for the team is the
  uncertainty as to the magnitude of the
  environmental issues. We have met with an
  environmental firm to understand the key
  activities to be performed in order to certify
  that schools are ready to be re-opened and will
  use this input as the basis for the RFP.
  Additionally, we will offer the opportunity for
  bidders to tour the facilities to better gauge
  the scope of work. These activities should
  provide further clarity, but at the moment, the
  scope, effort and costs of the environmental
  issue are not obvious.
• Limited FEMA resource availability requires the
  Facilities Maintenance team to create the
  detailed contents, which will eventually be
  included in the project worksheets to be
  developed by FEMA Project Officers.
• The team needs to relocate to New Orleans to more
  effectively oversee the work on the schools.
• Need to expedite the RFP process to confirm the
  necessary providers, including the General
  Contractor, HVAC, Environmental Group, Custodial
  Services, Waste Removal, Food Services and
  Transportation.
• Due to resource and financial constraints, the
  team has not begun the assessment of the
  remaining 95 schools and district facilities.
  Emergency repairs have not been initiated.