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Frontier Central outlines hiring gains, ramps bus driver recruitment and eyes HELPS program
Summary
Human resources reported a roughly 95% fill rate for FCEA positions, targeted recruitment efforts (job fairs, a postcard to ~22,000 households and a student-made recruitment video), continued difficulty filling bus drivers and skilled trades, and previewed a resolution to join NY’s HELPS program to convert provisional hires to permanent titles.
Joanne Ballas, presenting on staffing for Frontier Central School District, told the board the district currently lists about 377 FCEA positions and is running roughly a 95% fill rate after hiring more than 70 people so far this year.
Ballas said the district focused on targeted outreach to recruit hard-to-fill roles. Tactics include job fairs (the district recently hired six people from a February fair), postcards mailed to about 22,000 households in the region, flyers, tabling at community events and social-media promotions. She credited district public relations efforts and students in a video-production class who are producing a short recruitment video with driver and student testimonials.
The presentation singled out bus drivers and specialized maintenance/mechanic roles as ongoing challenges. Ballas described a marketing committee made up of administrators, union representatives and transportation staff that meets monthly to refine recruitment strategies and noted the postcard campaign and job fairs have been particularly effective.
Ballas also described the New York HELPS (Hiring Emergency Limited Placement) program and told the board an assistant superintendent drafted a resolution (on the meeting agenda) that would allow the district to participate. HELPS can move provisional staff into provisional or probationary titles and, upon successful completion of the period, convert them to permanent titles without taking a competitive exam. Ballas said Frontier has relatively few provisional employees, so the program "isn't necessarily a program that is of great importance to Frontier" today, but could be useful in specific cases.
Board members asked clarifying questions about timelines and capacity for some positions; Ballas invited further questions and said staff would share more detail as available. The district will return with any formal resolution language for board consideration at a future meeting.
The presentation concluded with a request for board feedback on continuing recruitment activities and on the proposed HELPS participation resolution.
