School district has third payroll glitch

TOUCHET, Wash. – Employees of a Washington school district didn’t get their scheduled paychecks because of a glitch in the payroll system, the district’s superintendent said.

The payroll failure on Dec. 18, the final working day of the month, was the third time in three months that some Touchet School District employees weren’t paid on time. High school coaches didn’t get paid in November, and middle school coaches weren’t paid the month before, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reported.

Touchet Education Association President Cathy Plucker said she’s heard of teachers returning gifts or having overdraft problems because of the delay.

Superintendent Dan McDonald told the school board recently that checks were delayed because of a problem with Washington School Information Processing Cooperative, a firm that provides information processing services for more than 280 school districts in Washington. Payroll is one of many services provided.

However, Plucker said she spoke with WSIPC and was told it was not their problem, but an internal problem in the Touchet School District.

McDonald didn’t return phone messages or e-mails.

There were several families where both husband and wife were district employees, including Deborah and Jorge Ortiz. The late paychecks caught them off guard.

“I don’t care what the excuse is, we depend on our paychecks and plan accordingly. This has made for a stressful time,” Ortiz said. “The district is blaming it on several reasons but personally I don’t believe it matters. We were not paid on time and that is inexcusable.”