I am currently gathering information and working on completing the annual SIRS Salary Survey Report. The report is due by December 15, 2019, and requires reporting the salaries and benefits for teachers, classified staff and administrators.
I am attending trainings concerning the upcoming Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave which begins January 1, 2020. Although we don’t administer paying the funds to employees we have notification responsibilities when employees may qualify and also need to understand how it works in with FMLA. I attended a training this month at Evergreen School District that was led by a representative of the program who gave an overview of the program. Tomorrow I will attend a meeting in Tacoma led by attorney Parker Howell who will provide information on Washington's Paid Family Medical Leave, and how sick leave, maternity leave and shared leave affect PFML.
I am continuing to interview and process substitutes and since the beginning of the year have brought on 16 new substitutes, 7 classified and 9 certificated. Tonight I am doing a short presentation at the PTSO explaining the opportunities we have in the district for substituting since I have found may people don’t fully understand what paraeducator means and the wide variety of jobs they can do. I had an applicant interview today who had met me at the recent job fair at Woodland High School who is currently finishing up her AA at Clark College and hopes to transfer to WSU for their teaching program. She wasn’t aware until we spoke that there are jobs working with students that don’t require a teaching certificate. I am hopeful of getting out in the community and increasing visibility will also increase our substitute applicants.