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Gates Chili expands hiring outreach, opens dedicated onboarding center to speed new hires
Summary
The Gates Chili Central School District reported gains in recruitment diversity and detailed a new, centralized onboarding space intended to reduce multiple return visits for new employees.
GATES CHILI, N.Y. — The Gates Chili Central School District reported growth in applicants from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and described a new centralized onboarding space that district officials say will streamline hiring and reduce repeated appointments for new employees.
The district’s assistant superintendent for human resources and labor relations, Mikayla Prado, told the Board of Education that applicant-tracking that began in 2019 shows an increase from 10.6% of applicants from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to 37.6% so far this year, out of 643 total applicants. "We are excited to see the growth that we have been able to accomplish," Prado said.
The board heard details about the district’s new onboarding process from Tanya Dickerson, coordinator for recruitment, hiring and retention. Dickerson described a two-step approach designed to reduce repeat visits: an initial 30-minute appointment to review the contract, fingerprinting, calendars, the employee handbook and payroll/benefits, followed by a longer onboarding session that can last four to six hours. She said new hires are paid for the longer day and will receive a badge, district email, and account setup in WinCap and Frontline during that visit. Dickerson said the district’s GCN trainings typically take about three hours and are the largest time factor in the longer session.
District staff credited the change to a dedicated space and to digitizing paperwork. Prado thanked district staff including Miranda Bayer, Roger Thane and Eva Petrosino for help digitizing forms and said the new onboarding area includes four computers and a snack area to accommodate longer sessions. Prado said the district recorded 73 interview sessions and 143 onboarding sessions so far this school year.
The board members asked questions about early usage. Dickerson said the onboarding center has been in use for about a month and sees "pretty much on a daily basis" at least two people going through the space.
The human resources team said they are continuing outreach at local events and colleges — including a virtual HBCU job fair planned for April and a Western New York Teacher Recruitment Day — and that they will keep updating the employee handbook to make language more respectful and to include facility maps and resources drawn from the substitute handbook.
District officials framed the onboarding changes as part of a broader effort to have staff demographics better reflect the student body and to reduce administrative burden for new hires.
