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District reports stable certified‑staff retention, continuing support‑staff turnover challenges
Summary
The district reported overall retention of 88.74% and progress on substitute coverage, alongside continuing challenges filling support‑staff roles. The board heard demographic, certification and vacancy data and asked for additional breakdowns of new‑hire experience.
Director of Employee Services Dr. Barb Buffington and Talent Recruitment and Retention Coordinator Sherry Smith presented the district's annual staffing and hiring update on Oct. 13, reporting strengths in certified‑staff retention and improvement in substitute coverage, and noting ongoing support‑staff turnover challenges.
Buffington said the district employs approximately "1,167 professionals" and described a predominantly female workforce (73%). She reported that 61% of certified staff have more than 10 years of experience, and that the district has 134 certified staff listed with 0–5 years of experience. The district's overall retention rate was presented as 88.74%, with certified staff retention at 92.31% and support‑staff retention lower (ranges from about 79% to 88%, depending on role).
Sherry Smith highlighted substitute coverage improvements: the September substitute fill rate rose to 94% from about 78% the prior year, and the district has placed permanent substitutes in eight buildings to reduce instructional disruptions. At the time of the report, Buffington said the vacancy table listed 12 support‑staff and 7 certified open positions; staff later noted two additional certified positions had been posted, including a special education teacher at Slack Trail and a teacher on special assignment at Northside Elementary.
Board members asked for additional breakdowns, including experience levels of new hires and details on dual certifications. Buffington provided the requested detail: of the staff with dual regular‑education and special‑education certification the majority were assigned to regular‑education classrooms (45 of 70), and of the 60 staff certified in regular education and English as a second language, 40 were in regular‑education classrooms and 20 in ESL assignments. The board thanked staff for the concise presentation and requested any remaining requested breakdowns be provided in follow‑up materials.
No board action was required; staff said they would supply the additional data requested.
