Forney ISD/ESS partnership increases substitute fill rate to 62%; district, contractor aim for larger pool

ESS (Education Management and Staffing Solutions), the district's substitute staffing partner, told the Forney ISD board that substitute-fill rates have risen since the partnership began in August and that the contractor and district have set a multi-step plan to grow the substitute pool.

An ESS representative reported, "Now a few months in with ESS, we're at 62%," and said the vendor has onboarded about 190 new substitutes for Forney ISD since August and has 271 active substitutes as of the December 11 data snapshot. ESS staff said the district's prior overall fill rate was about 48% before the partnership; ESS described month-by-month increases, targeted recruitment at community events, and incentive programs such as monthly gift-card drawings for district substitutes.

ESS outlined additional recruitment and operational steps: targeted local recruiting (including events at the OC), digital advertising (Indeed sponsorship), partnerships with PTA and workforce agencies, and an internal “central hiring team” intended to speed hiring at no extra cost to the district. ESS said roughly 35 substitutes have converted to full district employment since August, and noted a goal of growing the active pool toward roughly 500–600 substitutes so the district can reliably fill morning-of requests and long-term assignments.

Forney ISD human-resources staff and chief of human services, Rick Geer, said the transition has been challenging but productive; Geer noted a number of subs transferred into district employment and praised the collaborative effort with the ESS team. Board members including Dr. Terry lauded the early progress and thanked HR staff for their work. ESS representatives said they are pursuing a combination of on-site and remote hiring capacity and continuing substitute engagement programs to raise fill rates toward the mid- to high-70s and ultimately higher.