Pflugerville - Hutto Edition | February 2022

Measures taken Round Rock ISD

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In the last year, Hutto, Pflugerville and Round Rock ISDs have taken several measures to retain teachers and staff or deal with mass absences amid mounting deficits. Some examples include:

throughout multiple departments— not just substitutes and teach- ers—have been extremely difficult to fill recently and throughout the pandemic. As such, administrators in the three area districts have prioritized finan- cial and other incentive-based strate- gies and policies hoping to reverse the momentum. “Overall, in my 15 years in pub- lic education, this is the most short staffed we’ve been in a broad number of areas,” PfISD Chief Communica- tions Officer Tamra Spence said. Immediate staffing crisis Johanna Harmon, a teacher at Weiss High School in PfISD, said she does not recall having too much trou- ble finding a substitute for her classes prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but lately, there have not been enough people to meet the need. “Substitutes are always in demand, but what’s unique is how many absences there are above and beyond the substitutes that we can even find,” Harmon said. Recent data shows unfilled sub requests from the three districts generally increased from 11%-17% in January 2019 to 45%-61% in January 2022. Jenny Lacoste-Caputo, chief of public affairs and communications for RRISD, said the district has been enacting and considering several initiatives in an effort to reverse the momentum of the ongoing staffing shortage. For the spring 2022 semester, the district approved a stipend for teach- ers who cover classes when a substi- tute is needed during their planning periods, she said. So far, district efforts to alleviate staffing shortages have been working and not resulting in canceling classes or programs, Lacoste-Caputo said. HISD and PfISD have not been as fortunate. HISD had to suspend all regular bus routes starting Jan. 10 due to a short- age of transportation staff. The district also closed all campus operations Jan. 17-19 due to an over- whelming number of students and staff testing positive for COVID-19. In a letter to students, parents and staff, HISD Superintendent Celina Estrada Thomas said 200 staff mem- bers and 1,680 students were absent Jan. 14. Though PfISD has so far not

pflugerville ISD

hutto ISD

APRIL 2021

FEBRUARY 2021

APRIL 2021

District approves 1% increase in teacher salaries for 2021-22 to stay competitive and “boost morale”

District approves $100 stipend to all staff who get vaccinated for COVID-19

District approves 3% pay increase for teachers and librarians; pay bump for other positions

AUGUST 2021

OCTOBER 2021

MAY 2021

District approves $100 signing bonus in first month for new hire s

District approves $300,000 budget amendment to cover substitute teachers, supplies and equipment

District approves 1% pay increase for faculty and staff for 2021-22 school year

OCTOBER 2021

NOVEMBER 2021

SEPTEMBER 2021

District approves stipend for staff who stay at HISD through the 2021- 22 school year

District approves hiring and retention bonus for district employees of $500

District approves eight days of additional paid COVID-19 leave for all permanent staff members

DECEMBER 2021

JANUARY 2022

DECEMBER 2021

District approves $500 midyear retention stipend for staff

District approves stipend for teachers who cover classes during their planning periods

District approves $500 one-time payment to occur in February 2022 for all eligible employees

JAN. 10, 2022

2022

DECEMBER 2021

District temporarily suspends all regular bus routes due to lack of transportation staff

District approves pay increase for hourly positions to $15 per hour

District officials could discuss second retention bonus sometime in 2022 for future hires

JAN. 17-19, 2022

Your Hand Texas recently released its 2021 Texas Teacher Workforce Report, which showed that from the 2010-11 school year to the 2019-20 school year, retention rates for first-year teachers statewide dropped to 49.8%. At PflSD and HISD, district repre- sentatives said staffing issues that already comported with statewide trends have been greatly exacerbated by the pandemic. Spence said just like every other industry across the country, PfISD is feeling the pinch. Teachers, substitutes, educational aides, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodial workers have all seen higher vacancies this school year versus years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. “No one has ever seen the number of vacancies in the middle of the year like we have right now,” Spence said. “This is a struggle that we’re seeing across all industries, but definitely within education, and Pflugerville is no different.” Spence said she cannot speculate on the role the pandemic has played on the staffing problem, but it certainly JAN. 21 AND 24, 2022 Campuses close due to a large number of staff and students testing positive for COVID-19

Campuses close due to a large number of staff and students testing positive for COVID-19

SOURCES: HUTTO, PFLUGERVILLE AND ROUND ROCK ISDS/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

canceled bus operations, the district closed its schools and offices Jan. 21-24 due to COVID-19 cases. While vital operations at RRISD have so far evaded temporary cancel- lations, Lacoste-Caputo said district administrators are not ruling such measures out. “If we had enough staff absences that we could not safely operate a school because we didn’t have enough staffing, … then we would need to At RRISD, Lacoste-Caputo said the staffing crisis has more to do with absences caused by the recent spike in COVID-19 cases than it does with filling permanent positions. Though she said she could not accommodate a request for the num- ber of vacant positions at RRISD, the district has remained for the most part well staffed, even through the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. State data shows that RRISD could be skirting a statewide trend centered on school district staff vacancies. Public school advocacy group Raise close that campus,” she said. Longer-termstaffing shortage

constitutes a portion of the cause. August Plock, a Pflugerville High School teacher and president of the Pflugerville Educators Association, said he believes while it does play a role, the pandemic does not consti- tute the entirety of staffing difficulties districts are seeing. Plock saidwith the recent rebound- ing of the economy after a near free fall in mid-2020, teachers and other staff are seeking more lucrative opportunities outside public educa- tion. He also said a wave of adminis- trative retirements has led teachers to seek higher-paying positions in central offices of school districts, including at PfISD. “So, you’re getting hit in three dif- ferent ways,” Plock said. Spence said she is confident that many school districts throughout the country, including PfISD, will likely not return to prepandemic staffing levels any time soon. The district could not provide spe- cific numbers, but Spence confirmed PfISD had about 60 teacher vacan- cies, about 60 educational associates, about 70 transportation vacancies

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