Adams 12 HR officials outline hiring rules, shortages and pay pressures

Tim Griffin, chief human resource officer for Adams 12 Five Star Schools, told the Finance & Audit Committee that the district interprets board policy and state law to prohibit any promise of permanent employment and that teacher job protections follow the Colorado Teacher Employment Compensation and Dismissal Act (TECTA). "Teachers who obtain nonprobationary status under TECTA are subject to dismissal only on statutory grounds," Griffin said.

Why it matters: The committee reviews the board—s monitoring reports on hiring to ensure the superintendent and HR practices comply with policy and statute. Staffing levels and pay competitiveness directly affect classroom coverage, special programs and transportation services.

Griffin said administrative contracts are renewed annually (July 1–June 30) and that HR enforces hiring, dismissal and reduction-in-force procedures spelled out in the district—s master agreements, including Article 9 for classified staff. He described the hiring workflow: jobs are posted on the district website, positions receive multi-department approval (HR, finance, hiring manager), hiring managers screen candidates, and HR verifies qualifications and certifications before an offer is issued. The committee was reminded that personnel actions (resignations, hires, transfers, leaves) appear on the Board—s consent agenda.

The HR leaders outlined staffing shortages and retention challenges. Griffin said the district is "under market for many of our positions across all employee groups" and singled out special education paraprofessionals and transportation staff as areas of particular concern. "Right now, we're showing 18 vacancies in that position, 5 within the Title schools," Griffin said, referring to paraprofessionals who support special needs programs. He added transportation (drivers and driver aides) remains hard to staff because of inconsistent hours.

Darren Everett, HR operations director, described previous salary-schedule restructures and said the district—s pay scales have fallen behind competitors in recent years. He told the committee the district has made some targeted adjustments (calendar changes for a special education coordinator, an internal equity adjustment for school leadership) but that broader reclasses are on pause pending the mill-levy override outcome and subsequent budget decisions. "We—re hoping, like Tim had mentioned earlier, with the mill levy, we can do another restructure of that schedule to try to get us back up," Everett said.

Committee members asked whether shortages were local or regional; Griffin and Everett said special education shortages are a widespread problem and that the district has pursued alternate pathways (e.g., paraprofessionals completing certification programs) to increase the applicant pool. Members also requested documentation of positions whose current pay deviates more than 10% from market; HR said reclassifications under 5% had been recommended previously but are awaiting funding decisions.

No formal actions or votes were taken during the HR presentation. Committee members directed staff to include supporting documents in the FAC folder, to provide details on any positions currently outside the 10% policy tolerance, and to return with follow-up information as needed.