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Utica schools outline hiring push, PowerSchool rollout as central to fixing staffing shortages
Summary
District HR outlined recruitment and retention priorities for 2024–25 — recruiting at statewide career fairs, TA certification pathways and a planned PowerSchool rollout to streamline hiring and onboarding — and pledged a timeline for PowerSchool at the next board meeting.
The Utica City School District on Aug. 28 presented an extensive human-resources briefing that set recruitment, retention and diversity as the administration’s top priorities for the 2024–25 school year.
Sarah, the district human-resources representative, told the board the department has posted roughly 84 job postings and completed about 300 instructional interviews this summer and has hired 221 employees since Sept. 18, 2023. She said 72 instructional positions were listed in the 2024–25 budget, including 51 positions in teaching and related services that remain priorities to fill.
The report emphasized three lines of work: ramping up recruitment activity (career fairs, college partnerships and targeted outreach), improving retention through teacher induction and ongoing professional learning, and modernizing processes to reduce friction for applicants. Sarah said the district has been attending statewide recruitment events and hosted a job fair at the Delta Marriott; she also described outreach to Utica University, MVCC, UB and other regional institutions.
A central administrative goal is launching PowerSchool for recruitment and onboarding. Sarah said the district has delayed full implementation because PowerSchool templates require adjustment for New York State rules and local customization; she said Kim and the PowerSchool team will review existing staff capacity and provide a timeline at the next board meeting to show steps from start to finish. The board pressed for clarity about who will populate historical data into the system and whether new staffing is needed to complete the build; Sarah said the cabinet will assess capacity and report back.
The HR presentation also covered retention supports: a teacher-mentor program with printed mentor guides, an employee-assistance program selected via RFP (available at no cost to employees), a teacher-residency pilot tied to a Department of Labor grant, and a TA certification collaboration with MVCC that provides free coursework and test-payment assistance for paraprofessionals seeking certification.
Board members repeatedly asked for more granular data. Several trustees requested a chart listing the 51 positions added in the budget and their filling status, and asked HR to pursue a deeper retention analysis that goes beyond exit surveys to identify why candidates decline or leave. Sarah said those deliverables will be coordinated with assistant superintendents and reported at a future meeting.
The district framed the work as both immediate and strategic: short-term contingency plans are in place so opening-day buildings have certified staff, while the long-term approach combines targeted outreach, partnerships and updated HR systems to build pipelines for hard-to-fill areas such as secondary math, ESL, and special education.
The board asked for written copies of the presentation and a timeline for PowerSchool deployment; HR pledged to deliver those materials at the next board meeting.
