District 225, board making plan to meet staffing needs for hybrid schedule
As well as passing a balanced budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, a key topic of Tuesday's Glenbrook High Schools District 225 board meeting was an update on the Learning and Operational Plan for this school year.
The district, following the timing laid out by the plan, will enter its "Step 3" - an AM/PM hybrid schedule - with a two-week phased-in approach beginning Monday, Oct. 5.
The health metrics remain positive, as the board displayed in a series of slides during the remote meeting.
A sticking point is the 237 certified staff members approved for an accommodation to remain home and teach due to either medical or child care reasons - about 50% of the force.
There is also a gap between the 140 additional staff members needed to supervise classrooms while a teacher is working remotely and the 105 instructional assistants either "in the process of onboarding" for this supervision or who are recent applicants.
"I'm thankful and excited that we're moving to the next phase in allowing the students to be in school, because I've seen quite the deterioration with my kids here, and as my daughter said, she really, really wants to be with people," said one of the 17 residents within the district whose recorded messages were played near the start of the board meeting.
"However, I'm a little disappointed to hear that many of the teachers will not be. I think that's a pretty big aspect of return(ing) to school ..."
On Sunday the district emailed a notice to district parents seeking instructional assistants "to support in-person instruction while accommodated classroom teachers may continue to instruct remotely." Pay is $24.83 an hour; interested candidates with a high school degree or its equivalent are encouraged to contact District 225's human resources department.
Additionally, if there are not a sufficient number of instructional assistants by Oct. 5, administrators and district office personnel will be assigned to classrooms, and support personnel will be reviewed for potential assignment.
District 225 Board President Bruce Doughty noted the work board members have done to reach this point. As just one example, Dr. R.J. Gravel, assistant superintendent for business services, outlined how fresh air in school buildings has been substantially increased.
Before the board went into the solid news of another balanced budget, Doughty added an encouraging message toward the move to the hybrid schedule and staffing.
"Let's not spend a lot of time on 'can't.' Let's remember that we can. And it's not just a set of words. It's a philosophy that's driven this district for decades," he said.
"These may be difficult. We can't go to the 'teacher store,' we get that. But that doesn't mean we can't find ways, do everything we can to get the best expertise available to our students."