Chief Human Resources Officer Holly McGee told the Buffalo Board of Education on Sept. 3 that the district had 3,216.5 school-based BTF (teacher) positions as of Sept. 3 and 29.17 of those positions were unencumbered and needed to be filled.

McGee said the vacancy figure excludes about 200 staff who serve in non–school-based roles such as curriculum specialists or TOSA positions and that the district was “less than 1% not staffed for our BTF school based positions.” She told the board that, in addition to those vacancies, about 159 teachers were on approved leaves as of the start of school and that principals and colleagues felt the impact of those leaves.

To cover approved leaves, HR said it is using three approaches: assigning a certified replacement teacher in the same tenure area when possible; tapping certified teachers who do not currently have a school-based vacancy; and using substitute teachers. McGee said the district had about a 74% substitute fill rate on the first days of school and described the result as “pretty good,” adding that “even with teachers being on leave, we’re less than 5% of those people not being replaced.”

On recruitment and pipelines, McGee described the teacher pathway program the board approved, saying it has placed 115 teachers in Buffalo Public Schools since 2020 and that additional candidates are coming through partnerships with TNTP and Buffalo State College. She also said the district focused early recruitment this year primarily on special education openings to avoid rehiring staff who might later be laid off.

McGee told the board that funding for the University at Buffalo (UB) teacher residency was cut by the administration this year. “They did block the funding for the teacher residency program that we were working with UB,” she said, and added that HR and the grants office secured a separate award: “they wrote a grant for over $600,000 to do what’s called an apprenticeship with the Department of Labor.” The UB residency is paused for the year, McGee said, and the district is using the apprenticeship funding while staying in contact with UB and other partners including Canisius and Niagara.

Board members pressed HR on teacher diversity, absenteeism and hiring timelines. McGee said the BTF employee group is about 84% Caucasian and that she had provided racial counts to a predecessor but did not have an updated gender breakdown available in the meeting. She said HR is reviewing candidate pools before they are sent to subject-area directors to try to ensure equal consideration, and that she had begun a more hands-on review to reduce the risk of qualified applicants being overlooked.

On absenteeism, McGee said leaves are contractual and “they are scrutinized” and that employees must provide documentation to request medical leave. For chronic unexcused absenteeism or tardiness the district provides principals with counseling memo templates and documentation guidance. She also confirmed that workers’ compensation absences are included in absence counts.

Other operational details shared in the session: the district reported roughly 45 vacancies for teacher aides out of about 1,001 aides and paraprofessionals, and said 25 retired teachers were in the district under state waivers to return to teaching. McGee described weekly or monthly principal office hours and daily applicant monitoring as part of HR’s action plan to improve turnaround on hiring and replacements.

Dr. Mubenga, the superintendent, told the board HR and the district would continue to monitor the budgetary impact of replacement teachers. He gave a simple example: “If average salary for teachers is about $70,000, then you have about 100 replacement teachers that you’re having. That’s about $7,000,000,” and said the district would “be mindful” of those costs.

Discussion at the work session also included concerns raised by board members and the public about implicit bias in interview panels, the role of subject-area directors in interviews, and whether collective bargaining rules limit the superintendent’s authority to reassign staff to high-need schools. HR said it monitors candidate flow and is prepared to present additional data and to partner with the superintendent on strategies to increase hiring diversity.

No formal motions or board votes were taken during the staffing update; the presentation was informational and the board asked to receive an update midyear.