Bullitt County OKs short-term plan to cover 7 science teacher vacancies, approves subject.com and new tutor jobs

The Bullitt County Board of Education on an emergency basis approved a three-part plan to address seven vacant science teaching positions that would otherwise leave about 1,000 students without scheduled science instruction.

The board voted unanimously to contract with subject.com as an instructional platform and teacher-of-record provider, to create seven full-day instructional tutor positions, and to add a part-time itinerant middle-school science teacher. The motions passed by recorded voice vote were 5-0 for each item.

District administrators said the vacancies affect Mount Washington Middle (two openings, about 250 students), Hebron Middle (two openings, about 300 students), Bullitt Central High (one opening in biology and physics), Bullitt East High (one opening in physics) and North Bullitt (integrated science and chemistry openings, roughly 140 students combined). “We titled this urgent because tomorrow’s first day of school, and we have classrooms without science teachers,” an administrator told the board during the presentation.

Why it matters: Administrators said the shortage would limit students’ exposure to middle- and high-school science content, could depress state and national assessment performance and could create postsecondary gaps for students planning STEM careers. The district said universities are graduating very few secondary science teachers and that available applicants have been scarce or require visas the district cannot sponsor.

What the board approved: The package the board approved includes: - A subject.com service agreement to deliver curriculum and serve as a Kentucky-certified teacher of record for affected classrooms. District presenters said subject.com will provide Kentucky-certified teachers who grade student work, offer email contact and run live learning labs; the district budgeted $175,000 for subject.com services for the initial scope. - Seven instructional tutor positions to be paid on a tutor contract day and adjusted to a 7.5-hour day (teacher contract hours) so tutors can be present for the full school day; estimated cost $326,015.66 for the seven hires. - A part-time itinerant middle-school science teacher (approximately 2.5 days per week) to support tutors, provide oversight and perform family and staff coordination; estimated cost ~$40,540.15.

Budget effect: District staff presented the combined new cost as a net budget increase of about $71,000 compared with hiring seven full-time certified teachers, saying the approach is less expensive than some vendor teacher-of-record rates and cheaper than recruiting seven fully certified hires in the current market.

How instruction will work: The district described a model in which subject.com serves as the curriculum and certified teacher-of-record while on-site instructional tutors operate the classroom, run small-group interventions and generate daily progress reports. The itinerant middle-school teacher will provide academic oversight across middle schools, collaborate with building instructional coaches and the central curriculum team, and monitor student progress.

Pilots and continuity: District leaders said they will not immediately remove Edgenuity from high schools where students currently rely on it for course credit; any migration would be gradual to avoid disrupting students in progress. They said Mount Washington Middle — where staff already prepared over the summer using Edgenuity — will keep that platform so the district can compare results between delivery models.

Oversight, training and timeline: District staff said subject.com will provide training and that the vendor is prepared to begin quickly. The board approved the contracts so hiring and implementation could begin immediately; staff said they would aim to present early usage and progress data by the end of the first quarter and initial outcome checks by the end of the year.

Board action and attribution: The subject.com contract was moved by Miss Belcher and seconded by Miss Veil and approved 5-0. The instructional tutor positions were moved by Miss Hodges, seconded by Miss Neil and approved 5-0. The part-time middle-school science teacher position was moved by Miss Belcher, seconded by Mr. Harshfield and approved 5-0.

District next steps: Staff will hire the seven tutors, finalize the subject.com agreement, onboard the itinerant teacher, execute vendor and personnel training during reserved afternoon development time, and report usage and performance data to the board for monitoring.