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Ball Chatham HR outlines recruiting, retention and hiring needs; district reports 93% retention
Summary
Director of Human Resources Lisa Nobles told the board the HR budget is roughly $743,000, the district employed 677 staff in 2025–26, hired 106 during the year and reports a 93% retention rate; the district still has about 37 open educational support positions and plans a July 16 hiring event focused on bus drivers and food service.
Director of Human Resources Lisa Nobles presented the district’s human-resources overview and staffing metrics to the Ball Chatham CUSD 5 board, focusing on costs, recruitment and retention.
Nobles said HR’s budget is about $743,000 — roughly 1% of the district’s total fiscal picture — which covers staff who manage employee life cycles, pension-related fees and unemployment costs. She reported the district employed 677 staff across certified, educational support and administrative roles in 2025–26; the district hired 106 employees during the year and reported an overall turnover rate near 7%, which Nobles framed as consistent with a 93% retention rate.
“Replacing employees is expensive,” Nobles told the board, noting replacement cost estimates typically range from about 50% to 200% of a departing staff member’s salary depending on role; she said the district’s retention and investment strategies — recruitment events, incentives, mentoring, and partnerships with nearby colleges and universities — aim to lower those replacement costs.
Nobles said the district had two open certified positions (one specified as a speech-language pathologist) and about 37 open educational support positions at the time of the meeting. She described recent recruiting activity including attendance at career fairs, local hiring events (including a bus-driver hiring event) and a planned one-day hiring fair on July 16 focused on bus drivers and food-service personnel.
Board members asked about recruiting beyond state lines and about flexible roles to attract nontraditional candidates (for example, weekday-only student-supervisor shifts). Nobles said the district posts openings on national job sites and sometimes attends fairs in Chicago and St. Louis but concentrates primarily in central Illinois; she also described local strategies that have been successful at recruiting strong student-teacher candidates from ISU and UIS.
Next steps: HR will continue recruiting events, run the July 16 hiring fair and report hires and vacancy reductions at future meetings.
