US elementary school
An 18-staff elementary gets 5 hours a week back
In a small US elementary the duty roster is often owned by the principal or an assistant principal, though an office manager or special education coordinator may hold it. Recess, cafeteria, car line, sick cover and reprinting the sheet take at least 5 hours a week. SchoolRota cuts that to about half an hour a week, then emails the PDF and syncs Outlook or Google Calendar.
- 240 hoursback every year, about 34 school days
- $16,168net saving after the Starter plan
- 17.3xreturn, paid back in about 3 weeks
5 hours a week of duty-roster time, for $990 a year
The roster sits with the principal, whose time costs about $71 an hour once FICA and a typical public pension contribution are added. Doing it by hand costs $18,873 a year.
Cost per hour saved
$4
18 staff on the Starter plan
Time back each month
20 hours
Straight back to students and leadership
Who can run it
The office
Rules and the assistant hold the expertise, not one person
The school
Who this is modelled on
K-5 elementary in a typical US suburb, outside the highest-cost coastal districts. About 380 students. Eighteen classified staff on the duty roster: paraprofessionals, lunch aides and a small office team. The weekly sheet often still sits with the principal, because they know who can cover a reading group, who is first-aid trained, and who is already on car line. An assistant principal, special education coordinator or office manager can own it instead. The hours stay the same.
Role costed
Elementary principal
BLS 11-9032 median
Published salary
$104,070
May 2024, United States, national
Loaded hourly rate
$71
With FICA and a typical public pension contribution
These figures are modelled on published pay and typical duty-roster practice, not taken from one named school. Pay is U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (United States, national, May 2024). The full workings are set out at the bottom of this page.
The morning
Same absences, two very different mornings
This is where the hours actually go. Not planning, but reacting before the gate opens.
- 07:25Two calls: a para is out sick and a lunch aide is at a medical appointment.Log both absences on the Today board, or say it in chat.
- 07:35Open last week's spreadsheet and check who is free, first-aid trained and not on a 1:1.Cover is already proposed and explained, following your rules.
- 07:55Reprint the sheet, email it, then correct it again when a third change lands.Publish once. The PDF goes out and duties land in Outlook or Google Calendar.
- 08:15Staff arrive holding three different versions at car line.Everyone has the same roster, including anyone who never logs in.
The numbers
Time and money, side by side
Specialist time spent building the rota, covering absence, rebuilding sheets and sending them.
Loaded pay for the person who owns the rota, next to the annual SchoolRota plan.
The work that disappears when the rota runs from rules and a published board.
These are real gains we have deliberately left out of the cash figure, so the saving stays defensible.
- Automatic PDF rota emails to staff on the board
- Outlook, Google and Apple calendar updates
- Fairer duty load across the week
- Less key-person risk when the rota owner is away
- Any reduction in agency or supply spend
Today, by hand
Why only a couple of people can do this
- Recess and cafeteria coverage is rebuilt by hand whenever someone is out, at training, or working 1:1.
- The weekly sheet takes most of a day to set, then more time each week as absences land.
- Updates go out as email attachments or photocopies. Staff miss the latest version.
- It is often the principal or assistant principal who can do it safely: they hold the knowledge of availability, job level and who is already teaching.
- When that person is at a district meeting, the school falls back to a stale roster or an all-hands scramble.
With SchoolRota
What changes after setup
- Publish from a weekly template. Same-day sick cover is a confirmation, not a rewrite.
- SchoolRota emails the PDF roster and can sync duties to Outlook or Google Calendar, so nobody waits on a reprint.
- Rules already know first aid, cover preference, teaching clashes and who is absent.
- After setup, the office or an assistant principal can run the day with the AI assistant. Changes stay in draft until someone approves them.
- Whoever owns the roster gets those 5 hours a week back for students, safety and the rest of the job.
If an assistant principal owns it instead
A lower hourly rate, still a large saving
Plenty of elementaries give the roster to an assistant principal ($83,840 plus on-costs), or to a special education coordinator or office manager. The hours saved are the same 5-hour weekly floor, so only the cash figure moves.
Time cost saved a year
$13,822
Net of the Starter plan
$12,832
Return on plan
14x
Feedback
What leaders say about this change
The duty roster used to live in my head. If I was in a walkthrough, nobody else would touch the spreadsheet. Now the office can publish a day and I only approve the odd exception.
Five hours a week does not sound like much until you remember it is always the same two people, always before the first bus. Getting that back changed how the week starts.
Feedback is composed from reviews of this workflow with school leaders. It is representative rather than a quotation from one named school.
Questions this study answers
- Who usually owns the duty roster in a small elementary?
- Most often the principal or an assistant principal, sometimes the office manager or a special education coordinator. We cost it at BLS principal pay because that is the common pattern, not because nobody else ever touches the sheet.
- Is 5 hours a week realistic for a US elementary?
- Yes, and it is a floor. Recess, cafeteria, car line, same-day substitute cover, rebuilding the sheet and sending it out add up to at least an hour a day. We count 5 hours a week, or 22 hours a month. Larger schools sit above that.
- Which SchoolRota plan fits 18 staff?
- Starter covers up to 25 staff on the roster at $99 a month, or $990 a year (2 months free) for schools billed in USD. Admin and viewer logins are unlimited.
How the numbers are worked out
Pay is United States, national for May 2024, using the published administrator wages named above. Certified roles add 7.65% FICA and a 16% typical public pension employer contribution. Health insurance is left out. Operations roles use a 28% on-cost. Loaded pay is divided by 1,800 hours, an 11-month administrator year, which keeps the hourly rate on the low side.
Manual hours cover the standing roster, same-day absence cover, rebuilding sheets and sending them. A small elementary starts at 5 hours a week. Larger schools sit above that. SchoolRota hours cover publishing, reviewing and the odd exception. The subscription is the Starter annual card plan ($990, two months free) for 18 staff on the roster, and net saving is time cost saved minus that plan. Calendar sync and automatic PDF delivery add no cash value here, so the real return is higher.
Sources and next steps: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, current plan prices, what the Today board does, and the other studies. Assumptions last reviewed 17 August 2026.
Other schools, same maths
Run the same maths on your own staff list
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