001employees in our district. 80% of our staff are studentf facing. So they're either educators in the classroom or they're in student support roles such as PAR educators. This year alone, we had to on board 88 new employees, right? And that's across all bargaining units. That's across all employee groups. And what we found is that our hardest to fill roles are our specialized roles. So that's those are our BCBAS. Um those are our uh speech and language pathologists or OT's occupational therapists and we try not to use acronyms too much. Um those you know they have they can find opportunities in many different places and they're very difficult to build roles in our districts and that's something that's experienced across the nation. That's just that's not unique to Ammerst. That's across across all districts uh most
002districts. And so one of the biggest pressures on our student experience and what we're seeing in our system uh is attendance and is also lenture. So those are the two focal points for today that I really wanted us to focus on. We can go in many different directions, but those are the ones that drive a lot of the conversations that we have. So when we're looking at staff attendance, 80% of our attendance or absences are from our studentf facing positions. Now, I know they're our largest employer group of of employees, but they also compose our largest rate of absenteeism. Now, attendance issues can come up for a variety of reasons. But, as I mentioned, we want to focus on what impact does that have to our student experience in the classrooms that creates variability day-to-day,
003right? If students don't have consistency and the students that feel that the most are our most high need students, right? they if their onetoone isn't there on a daily basis or if they're if they're unable to be there consistently, those are required services that go unmet, right? And then we're scrambling. How do we fill these positions during the day? How are we finding substitute coverage? How are we making sure that our kids needs are being met? And so that's a that's a lived reality. It also puts strain on colleagues in the building, right? So you're being pulled from your classroom to or from your prep time to be able to fill in for someone else. And that's the time you need to plan and prepare and make sure that your kids are successful for the
004day. So those are definitely strengths that we're seeing that we're working towards to address so that our kids can have consistent educators in their classroom dayto day so that they can receive what it is that they need. The other point here is lensure. There aren't I mean I work closely with the college of ed at UMass. There aren't droves of people going into the fields of education. It's just not a reality, right? It's not it's not something that we see. It's not something we're experiencing. So when we're trying to fill positions, we're finding that some of the candidates that apply for positions aren't licensed for the roles that they're going into. So we have to apply for waiverss. A way that we're trying to mitigate this is to create our own lenture pathways in the
005district. We had one called Ammerst Futures that successfully graduated eight pareducators to become licensed educators in our district. We work on really trying to provide hand-to-hand support for our educators going through the lensure process. There are barriers certain barriers in place that DESI themselves are trying to address. Right now they're they've come up with a system to wave the communication literacy MTEL for folks who are eligible for that. But it is real and it is something that we face and we always want to make sure that we have the highest qualified individuals in front of our students. There's a creep that I live by and it's if I would not be okay with my student being in a classroom and it's not okay for anyone else's student and that's just the reality of it. And
006so here we just see the cascade, right? If if our systems are fragmented in these ways, if we can't put consistent expectations forward for our staff to be here, to be present, if we're unable to kind of bridge these gaps in terms of lenture and making sure that folks are qualified to come in and to teach our kids, ultimately the ones who feel it are the students in our classrooms. And that's what we're trying that those are the questions we're trying to answer. Those are the things we're trying to mitigate and the conversation that we're having today. Another piece that we're looking at in terms I'll speak specifically to my department is making sure that what sorry Tanya that's your flicker I apologize. Uh that when we're talking about systems and having cohesive systems we're
007actually looking to internally at our platform. So what are our platforms saying? If our platforms aren't talking to each other, by that I mean our evaluation systems, our personnel record systems, our professional learning systems, then it's really hard to keep track as to how are our teachers doing in the classroom and are they receiving the supports that they need? Um are they receiving the professional development that they need so that they can feel successful? Are they going in and consistently filling out their self assessment every year and saying these are areas I'm really good in and these are areas of growth that I would like to get better in. and how are we connecting that to their professional development. So as we internally look at our platforms, we're saying okay, how can we connect the
008dots here and how can administrators see this in a fluid way and it's not perfect. We've been working on it for the last three years and there's definitely bumps and kinks along the way, but the purpose is how are we tying this together, right? If a teacher is is aligning their goals and aligning their self- assessment to the standards and we're doing this work right now with our evaluation committee, how are we then as the administrator saying, "Okay, let's get you the support that we need." How do we connect that to a professional personal learning platform that says, "Here's the PD we can offer. Here's the time, here's the coaching, the mentor, the mentorship that we can offer you." And it's trying to bring that all across along the way so that ultimately the one
009who who benefits from it the most is is the student are our students. So this is what I was just I was just referring to here is just how do we bring up our internal talent but how is our internal infrastructure also supporting that right because we can get folks licensed through our system. We're trying to provide as much support as possible, but then how are our internal systems making sure that we're that the life of our employee in our district is one that brings them towards success. And those those are my slides, right? That's that's the foundation for today before we jump into more debt and start talking about how that feeds and trickles into the classroom. >> Okay, so now Dr. Z, take questions. Dr. Yes. >> Can I just ask people to
010introduce themselves when they're >> behind everybody? >> Hi, I'm Sharon Ruth. I'm from RC Pack. Um I was wondering if you had any information on employees that have quit and sort of what kinds of support they're wanting because I know in special education we've had staff members quit. Um, and as you said, they're hard to rebuild. So, what can we do more? Um, I know you talked a bit about professional development helping with retention, but I just wonder if you could speak about that a little bit. >> Sure. Um, we do conduct exit surveys. I was just in an exit survey for special education position last week. Uh, and you know what they shared, they they they love the district. Thank you, Alison. They love working in the district, right? We have really incredible educators.
011They feel the support. A lot of times it is for personal reasons. They're moving away. Um other times it can be a a difference in a clash of culture right in terms and by culture I just mean um I don't mean like ethnic I mean the culture here in Ammerst can be different from folks who are coming from other places and so how are we doing with our mentorship program our first year mentors and how are we pairing them up to make sure they're feeling the support and can come in and integrate into into our culture and and can feel comfortable and welcomed here. So, I've heard a variety of of different things. Um, but that's mostly those are mostly the points that that have come forward and some of them are because of lenture,
012right? It it's um Massachusetts is a very rigorous state to get your educator lensure and especially if it's a specialized role. There are listed competencies and things and it can be um it can be very difficult for for folks to attain lensure here. John Tricky fellow uh you addressed the lion share and that kind of stuff. What about the I can talk to that a little bit? >> So we're currently working with APA on a very robust uh response to attendance and absenteeism um that admittedly will ruffle feathers and it'll be difficult but it's really to try to just establish mostly consistency. Our administrators are really good about going in and asking the question, what's going on? What's happening? Why are, you know, why is why are the attendance rates like this? But it's we're
013now working on putting a system that's transparent to everyone around what the district's expectations are and then us as administrators consistently applying that system. So, it is a work in progress. Um, as any of you might know with, you know, we we have to work collaboratively in that process, but it is something that is being addressed. Margaret, >> I I just wanted to say for people who may not know, could you tell them what >> APA? APA. Uh they are the Ammeris Educators Association. Thank you, Margaret. I said I was going to use acronyms and look at me. Uh and they are the U body the union body over our teachers and educators that parent and presenting school advisory committee. I just had a question about how our absenteeism um compares to our region, our
014area. Is that just typical or is ours larger depending? >> Um, I ask this question a lot like in our listerve group around attendance and what are you doing to to you know deal handle attendance or address attendance in your districts and it is something that a lot of districts are dealing with. I haven't pulled I don't have a spreadsheet to show percentages but um anecdotally other HR directors and superintendents share that is um something that they're they're trying to work with and they're trying to work collaboratively with their unions. I think after COVID definitely we saw a spike in attendance and we don't want to encourage anyone to come to work when they're not feeling well but I think there's al there was a shift a culture shift too and so it's trying to
015get back to what we were right what we were doing before then and how do we do that and still support our educators I saw Sarah Marshall then um Tim did you have your hand up Anna thank you >> Sarah Marshall Ammeran regional school committees um can you describe how the districts or maybe it's a building based uh develop lists of substitutes. How do you because I imagine that's part of the problem. If you if you had a qualified substitute, you wouldn't maybe wouldn't need to pull other educators away from their classes to to help during an absence. Um, I imagine that that's also challenging, but can you talk about how how substitutes are found and if districts collaborate, there's some big list of, you know, that you could pull from? Um, I'd like to
016learn more about that. >> Sure. >> Every teacher role and for parent role perhaps also. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'll try to be succinct because I'm I have to be mindful of the time. I think we have one more question. Uh, subs are very difficult to find, right? They're per DM. It's very transient. It's um people can choose whether they want to commit or not that date to sub. Uh we're working also with the union to try to create a full-time permanent sub position within the district. Right? There's there's multiple different things that we're trying to do to address this issue. Uh we invite retired teachers to come back and be subs or the best kind of substitute you can have in a school district. But yes, it is very very difficult to find substitutes
017and that's that's why we end up pulling teachers from the classroom to cover uh many times and it's it we don't have we don't have the answer right we don't have the perfect way of how to how to resolve that. I'm going to go to Anna is I'm going to go to Anna so she has an opportunity and I think that's the last question I can take. So I just wanted to say absences especially after CO have been a a huge problem both with students and with teachers. Um in Shootsbury they had a food allergy and they've implemented a whole bunch of very restrictive guidance around hygiene so people are washing their hands a lot more. They're limiting food consumption only to the cafeteria and it has the side benefit of reducing illness. And so
018I was just going to say, what kinds of hygiene >> structures have you tried to use in this school, in this district to I mean just washing hands more frequently actually really reduces germ spread and so maybe there are some hygiene you know procedures to I can't say we have one but I also still our nurse manager isn't here to ask either. Um, and that is absolutely a point of feedback that I will bring back. So, thank you. And I'm sorry if there were other questions, but I want to keep us on track with time. Is that okay, Dr. Z? >> Okay. >> So, we do have coffee and fruit um and water available. We're going to take a we we did a lot. It's been like over an hour. Um, everyone might be need
019like a motion break or take a quick five minute break. Have your side conversation. We're going to come back and continue with absenteeism for students next. So, let's take a quick five minute break. >> Are we going to get these slides?