Cypress district HR details summer hiring; dozens of new staff introduced

During special activities at the Aug. 8 meeting, Tracy Moran Lawrence, the district's executive director of Human Resources Induction, reviewed recruitment steps used over the summer and shared hiring figures for the 2024-25 school year. "HR has been busy," she said, describing outreach on EdJoin, Indeed and job fairs, partnerships with universities and the district's screening, testing, practicum and interview steps.

Lawrence provided counts for multiple staffing categories. For elementary certificated openings she reported 20 positions with a large applicant pool and said the district hired for those openings. She also reported broader certificated totals (35 open positions with 256 applications, 105 interviewed and 35 hired) and classified recruitment figures (12 open positions, 89 applicants, 33 tested, 34 interviewed and 10 hired). On the paraeducator behavior preschool recruitment Lawrence said five positions were open, 14 applicants applied, two were tested, 10 were interviewed and four hired; one vacancy remained under background check. She also noted that technology-support specialist Joe Velasquez retired and the district had 29 applicants for that role and planned testing the following Tuesday.

Lawrence introduced a set of new hires by name (examples read aloud at the meeting included Janice Begg, Jennifer Davis, Monique Garrets, Nancy Gomez, Aparna Ghaswami, Sabrina Lopez, Helen Makayama, Miranda Rodovan, Johanna Ramirez, Rebecca Reedy and Ala Shaddaha). Trustees and union and PTA representatives welcomed the new staff; Kara Patton, president of the Association of Cypress Teachers, and local PTA representative Britney both spoke and thanked staff for their work and welcomed colleagues.

Trustees praised the size of the applicant pipelines and emphasized welcoming and supporting new staff during their first year. The HR presentation closed with applause and the board moved on to routine business.