Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is more than halfway to its goal of hiring 34 teachers in high-need areas.
The school corporation announced this goal in March as a major priority of how it would use its second Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund allocation. BCSC Director of Title Services Gina Pleak said at the time that ESSER II funds would cover salaries and benefits for these 34 new positions in high-need areas.
Twenty one of these positions had been filled as of Thursday, including both hires and transfers, she said.
“We’re getting closer day by day, but we’re not there yet,” said Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Teresa Heiny.
On April 5, BCSC school board members approved a list of human resources recommendations presented by Heiny. The list included 15 appointments that were described as “a regular contract position due to the CARES grant.”
ESSER II funding is part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, also known as CRRSA or CARES 2.0. Under ESSER II, schools will submit allowable expenses incurred from March 13, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2023 and then be eligible for reimbursement.
These 15 hires include four English teachers at secondary schools, three special education teachers at secondary schools, two math teachers at Northside, one ELL teacher at North and five elementary school teachers.
Altogether, the HR recommendations from Monday’s board meeting included 29 appointments — 15 funded from CARES, seven filling resignations, three filling transfers, three filling regular contract positions that were covered by long-term subs since the fall of 2020, and one teacher transferring from Columbus North to the school corporation’s virtual pathway.
The recommendations list also included three retirements and 11 resignations. Of the resignations, six were due to relocation, and five were due to pursuing one’s own education or other career paths.
As the school year winds down, there will likely be more staffing changes on the way. The hires approved April 5 came just a few days before the school corporation’s first ever Virtual Teacher Fair, which was held Wednesday and served as a sort of kickoff to teacher recruitment efforts.
Superintendent Jim Roberts has said in earlier interviews 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. School officials have also said that, in addition to hiring for CARES positions and making up for attrition, there are other positions that need to be filled as well.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”CARES-funded hires” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The 15 CARES-funded hires listed in Monday’s HR recommendations are as follows:
- Central, special education
- Clifty Creek, primary teacher
- East, two English teachers
- North, ELL
- North, English
- North, two special education teachers
- Northside, English
- Northside, two math teachers
- Schmitt, primary classroom teacher
- Southside, first grade
- Southside, third grade
- Taylorsville, first grade
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Where to learn more” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
To view the school corp.’s available positions, go to bcscschools.org. Under the "Join BCSC" tab, click on "Apply for a job." From there, click on "Search Available Jobs in BCSC and Apply." This will lead applicants to a searchable database of positions.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
