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Board hears HR report: lowest vacancy rates, 190 new hires and progress toward class‑size caps
Summary
Human resources reported the district employs about 6,807 staff, hired 190 new employees this year, and is nearing negotiated hard caps on class size for 2025–26; district leaders highlighted substitute pool health and paraeducator apprenticeship and residency programs to grow local staffing.
District human resources briefed the board on staffing, substitutes and efforts to grow local teacher pipelines, reporting historically low vacancies in several categories and steps to reach negotiated class‑size caps.
An HR presenter told the board the district has just over 3,500 certificated employees and a little over 3,200 classified employees — a total of roughly 6,807 staff — and that the spring/summer hiring cycle produced about 190 new hires for the district. “We are at the lowest vacancy rate we’ve ever had in terms of our special education paraeducator,” the presenter said, thanking HR colleagues and district partners for recruitment work.
The presentation highlighted deep applicant pools in some areas; for example, more than 200 counselors applied for a handful of openings, producing seven hires in counseling. The district said it has a healthy substitute pool (748 certificated substitutes) and reported a near‑100% fill rate for September vacancies in key categories.
Staff described progress toward negotiated class‑size hard caps that will take effect in the 2025–26 school year. The presenters listed the negotiated maximums (for the vast majority of classes) and said the district is at roughly 90% compliance, with remaining facilities work and portable removal planned to meet the cap before implementation. The presentation also included pipeline programs: a paraeducator apprenticeship for high‑school CTE students and partnerships such as a classified‑to‑certificated teacher grant with the county office of education and a Claremont Graduate University residency program that places residents in district classrooms with pay and long‑term mentoring.
Board members and the superintendent praised the staffing metrics and the apprenticeship pathway. The superintendent thanked HR leadership and district associations for the collaborative work that staff said is helping the district be a “destination” for employment. Board members asked about facility timing tied to class‑size implementation; facilities staff said architecture/construction contracts are in progress to complete the remaining capacity work.
Staff also noted they are exploring grant funding to support residency stipends and the apprenticeship living‑wage question but said existing grants do not fully cover proposed stipends. No formal board action was taken; the report was informational and the board expressed support for continued pipeline growth and facilities work needed to meet class‑size caps.
