Groveport Madison board approves MOU with GMLEA to ease hiring for hard-to-fill roles
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Summary
The Groveport Madison Schools Board of Education approved a memorandum of understanding with GMLEA to allow hiring flexibility for hard-to-fill positions, including nursing and specialized therapy roles; the move passed by roll call after questions about examples and scope.
Superintendent Chen recommended the Groveport Madison Schools Board of Education approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Groveport Madison Local Education Association (GMLEA) to permit hiring candidates for hard-to-fill positions with additional years of experience or flexibility outside the district’s standard contract. The board approved the MOU by roll call.
Why it matters: District officials said the MOU is intended to help the district recruit critical specialized staff — including nurses, occupational and speech-language therapists, school psychologists and teachers for visually and hearing impaired students — to maintain services for students.
What the board heard: “This permits us to hire certain hard-to-fill positions, giving additional years of experience to be able to bring them into the district,” Superintendent Chen told the board when introducing the agreement. When asked for examples of where the flexibility would apply, a board member asked for general situations where the district was struggling to fill positions; Chen pointed to nursing and related therapy and intervention roles during the exchange.
Board action and vote: The superintendent moved approval of the MOU; the motion was seconded and carried on a roll-call vote in which members recorded their affirmative votes (Zimmer: Yes; Herbert: Yes; Washington: Aye; Kirschner: Yes). The board directed staff to proceed with the renewal and implementation steps discussed.
What happens next: With approval, administration said it would complete the renewal procedures and work with GMLEA to apply the flexibility to targeted postings. The MOU was described as a renewal of a prior agreement the district used for the same categories of positions.
The board did not set specific hiring targets during the meeting; administrators said postings and uses of the MOU would proceed consistent with district need and board oversight.
