Board approves Kelley Services staffing contract to shift custodial and nutrition hires; about 32% of eligible staff opted in so far

The Catoosa County Board of Education approved a contract on June 3 to transition future hires in custodial, child nutrition and certain substitute positions to Kelly (Kelly Services), while current employees were given a choice to remain district employees or move to Kelly.

District staff explained that the change is voluntary for eligible current employees; supervisors (child nutrition managers and head custodians) will remain district employees and retain their supervisory roles regardless of employee choice. The district said 41.5 of about 130 eligible employees (approximately 32%) had already chosen to transfer to Kelly, producing an estimated state health-cost savings of about $825,630 based on present selections.

Officials described changes and options for employees who transfer: higher hourly pay rates, weekly pay instead of monthly pay, access to Kelly benefit plans (vision, dental, health, optional), and a one-time sick-day payout ranging from about $500 to $3,000 depending on accrued days. District staff said Kelly agreed to provide a summer-pay option to match the district’s current summer-pay practice so employees who are not scheduled to work in summer can still receive summer pay.

The district said Kelly will perform recruiting and onboarding for new hires in the covered departments; the district will continue background checks, control school placements, and retain final authority over which candidate works at each school. Current paraprofessionals will remain district employees; future paraprofessional vacancies may be filled by Kelly. The district also described plans to move substitute-teacher management to a single platform (Frontline) through Kelly, which leaders said could make securing substitutes more consistent.

Board members asked about specifics of Kelly’s insurance carriers, training for custodians, and how Kelly’s recruiter would operate locally; staff said employees would be given direct contact numbers to Kelly and that Kelly would deploy local recruiters to work with district offices. The item was included on the consent agenda and approved unanimously.