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District human resources reports stable staffing amid declining student enrollment, outlines recruitment steps
Summary
Elkhart Community Schools human resources lead presented staffing counts, trends since 2019, hard‑to‑fill subjects and recruitment/retention measures including an APR grant pipeline and emergency licenses for some teachers.
Miss Lozano, representing the district human resources department, updated the school board March 11 on staffing counts, hiring trends and retention efforts across Elkhart Community Schools.
Miss Lozano told trustees the district supports more than 2,000 employees across certificated, classified and administrative categories and reviewed long‑term trends: student enrollment has declined since 2019 while the number of teaching staff has remained relatively steady.
"When looking at this information, we went back as far as 2019 just to provide some context," Miss Lozano said, adding the district compares average daily membership (ADM) to full‑time equivalent teaching staff to assess adequacy of staffing.
She identified persistent hard‑to‑fill positions at the secondary level, especially math and science, and said roughly 10% of current staff are on emergency licenses while they pursue full certification. To address shortages, HR is recruiting nontraditional candidates, using substitute and retired teachers for long‑term assignments, and leveraging student teacher placements as a hiring pipeline. The department also cited an APR (Attract, Prepare and Retain) grant that increased staffing in 2023–24; Miss Lozano said that grant ended in September.
Miss Lozano outlined retention measures the district has adopted or expanded, including paid maternity leave, license expense reimbursement and increased retirement/benefit contributions. She also described a mentor‑mentee program, professional development offerings, and licensing pathway support for English learners and high‑ability endorsements.
The HR presenter said staffing decisions follow an evaluation process: when a position becomes vacant the district reviews enrollment, instructional need, internal staffing capacity and finances before posting. She noted the district does not automatically refill every vacated role.
Miss Lozano provided school‑level breakdowns of teacher hiring and attrition over the past five years and described targeted recruitment efforts—career fairs, university partnerships, job boards including Handshake, LinkedIn and Nimble—and plans to optimize the employee management system to capture data on staffing needs.
The presentation closed with a reminder of upcoming staff recognition events in April and May and an invitation for questions from the board.
