In October I have attended two important trainings for my role in Woodland Public Schools. On October 9, 2017, I attended a one day Civil Right Training put on by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Topics included Harassment, Investigating and Resolving Complaints and Gender Identity and Gender Expression. On October 16 and 17, 2017, I attended a School Law Conference put on by Washington State Personnel Association (WSPA). I attended classes on Top Risks to Your District, Progressive Discipline, New Paid Family Leave Law, Sex Abuse and Boundary Invasions and The Public Records Act. Conferences like these allow me to stay up to date on ever changing landscape of Human Resources.
Hiring both classified and certificated substitutes continues to be a focus. We currently have 154 substitutes with 70 of them certificated. Since the beginning of the year we have had 12 classified and 13 certificated absences unfilled. The reasons absences go unfilled can vary but because we compete with neighboring districts for our substitute pool there are things employees can do to increase the chances of an absence being filled. In the Human Resources Hot Topics for October I communicated with employees the importances of selecting preferred substitutes, getting the absence in the system early and whenever possible talking to a substitute ahead of time which allows them to assign them to the job.