Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has hired more than 100 new teachers since March, which the school corporation began a push for teacher recruitment.
Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Gina Pleak said the recruitment process began when BCSC announced its initiative to add (and pay for) new teaching positions using dollars from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund.
Almost all of the approximately 40 new ESSER-funded positions are filled, Pleak said. The same is true of BCSC’s other teaching positions. Overall, BCSC has hired 103 new teachers and still has four teaching positions open in special education.
Pleak estimated that, in a normal year, BCSC hires about 70 to 80 new teachers. Last year, the school corporation had a total of 720 teachers; it now has 773.
Superintendent Jim Roberts has said in the past that the school corporation’s retention rate for teachers is about 90%, meaning that they need to replace about 70 teachers annually due to attrition.
“We had more resignations than retirements this year,” Pleak said. “We also added positions through ESSER and other funds.”
Social media and marketing helped the school corporation’s recruitment drive, she said, and it’s also likely that salary increases from the referendum were a contributing factor.
Several people were hired from the school corporation’s virtual career fair.
“In the past, for a few years, we had the in-person career fair,” she said. “… And I think the virtual opened it up to students still in college, people from other states that were going to move here over the summer.”
BCSC is also continuing recruitment efforts through its new Pathway to Teacher Licensure Program. Paraeducators in the pathway work full-time in classrooms while also earning their bachelor’s degree in education at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College via online learning.
BCSC pays for tuition and textbook fees under the conditions that participants maintain a certain GPA, “meet support staff evaluation goals,” and remain with the school corporation until their degree is complete.
Upon graduating and receiving their licenses, participants will be guaranteed a teaching position and are expected to commit to remaining with BCSC for two years.
Pleak said that the program is just getting underway, and nine candidates have been hired. Six have worked with BCSC before in support staff roles. Two are working with secondary students; the rest are with elementary. Six graduated from BCSC.
“I believe all of them reside in Columbus,” she said. “And we have anywhere from them wanting to be early childhood, elementary education, special education, secondary English — we have a wide span of interests up from those nine. I’m very excited.”
Candidates are currently in their respective school buildings, getting used to their work environment and roles. Later on there will be an orientation and time to sign up for their college courses.
Pleak is also stepping into a new role, having previously served as BCSC’s title services director. She moved into the assistant superintendent of human resources position this summer when her predecessor, Teresa Heiny, retired.
While there’s “a lot to learn,” Pleak said it’s been a good transition, thanks to the help of her teammates. She feels both excited and honored to be in this role.
“My whole career’s been dedicated to educating students, supporting families, supporting teachers, supporting staff,” she said. “And in all of that, we want students to have the best educational experience possible. So I think, in my role currently, each person hired has a role and a responsibility to impact that experience for all of our students each and every day.”
