Interviewing, hiring and processing substitutes has been a focus for the last three months. Twenty-seven substitutes have been added to the pool and twelve of the twenty-seven are certificated. Since we often share our substitutes with neighboring districts we continue to work at being competitive with wages and so you will see a request for an increase for our certificated substitutes as well as incentive pay to encourage them to work more often for Woodland Public Schools.
OSPI is now doing an Educator Equity Status tool and it shows any staff that are teaching out of endorsement. This tool is in the beginning stages of production so I am having to follow up to see if the tool has made an error before putting them on the consent. You may see some additional teachers on the consent agenda in the next few weeks if I find out they are teaching out of endorsement.
Human Resources is where staff go to when they find they need to take time off for medical issues for themselves or a family member. Employees are able to find out what resources are open to them through the district including sick leave, FMLA and shared sick leave. Having answers to their questions allows it to be one less unknown during a difficult time. Washington is making changes to leaves in the next few years so I am working with payroll to be proactive in planning ahead for the changes.I continue to refine my processes to improve tracking FMLA as well.