Central SD 13J reports hiring gains and sharp reduction in external contracts

Brian Flannery, the district’s executive director of human resources, presented Central School District 13J’s 2025–26 staffing and five-year FTE trends, saying the district has reduced reliance on externally contracted classified staff while increasing internal hires.

Flannery explained how the report displays headcount followed by FTE in parentheses and said that earlier cuts were offset by hiring more internal staff. “We have, at this 0 contracted, externally staff other than, what we've done for many years with, WESD,” Flannery said, noting continuing partnerships for specialized roles.

The presentation traced program shifts that moved behavior services into ACEs and spread special-education programming across more schools, producing increases mostly among classified positions. District office staffing also rose in specific licensed and classified roles after a period with several unfilled special-education support positions; Flannery highlighted recent hires including school psychologists.

Board members asked whether the district could report retention statistics; staff said they can add a retention metric (average years of service by classification) to future reports and provide several years of historical data where available. The report showed special-education staff as roughly 26% of the district’s workforce, up from about 18–19% three years prior — an approximate 8 percentage-point increase.

The board did not take a vote on staffing changes; the presentation concluded with an agreement to return follow-up retention data in a Friday report or future packet.