The New Bloomfield R-III School District is considering signing a contract with Kelly Educational Staffing, a substitute teacher staffing agency.
If the district decides to sign up with Kelly, the staffing service would provide the district with substitute services - calling substitute teachers to fill in and all of the human resources work associated with the substitute teachers - for an additional 39 percent of what the district currently pays its subs.
Superintendent David Tramel said the district's Board of Education tabled a decision on whether or not to use Kelly at its meeting Thursday night to allow more time for the district to do research on how substitute paraprofessionals, teacher's aides who help out in classrooms, work within Kelly's system.
A representative from Kelly spoke to the district's administration recently and two representatives from Kelly visited the district's school board at its December meeting Thursday night. Kelly representatives - including Kelly's district manager Allen Jennings - answered questions from the school principals and school board about the services they provide.
"Basically what Kelly Educational Staffing does is takes the whole HR function of the substitute program off of the plate of the school district," Jennings said. "So they become Kelly employees."
If the school board votes to sign a contract with Kelly Educational Staffing, the company would approach the district's current subs about becoming Kelly employees. That way, the school district can still keep its preferred substitute teachers.
But, there is a larger pool of subs the district can reach into if it has trouble filling a classroom with its preferred subs.
Teachers can post on Kelly that they need a classroom filled for a particular day. They can either list the need for a sub for the district's entire sub pool or they can select a specific sub they would like to request. Kelly substitute teachers log in to a computer system to list their availability and to look for classrooms that need filled. When an opening becomes available, subs get a notification via phone of the opening.
Tramel described the district's sub costs as static from year to year. He told the school board Thursday night that the district's net cost to use Kelly would be just under $12,000. But, the district would not have HR costs and personnel tasks associated with the substitute teachers.
To help with the transition, Kelly Staffing would meet with the district's current substitute teachers and answer all of their questions about Kelly before officially hiring them. Jennings said that meeting and time to answer questions would help dispel what rumors the district's current subs may have heard.
"We want to make sure those people (the district's current subs) continue to work just like they do now," Jennings told the board. "We're not here to come in and slaughter your pool (of substitute teachers) and bring in a bunch of new subs. ... Our goal and our mission is to fill your classrooms. There may be instances where we will be bringing some new people in because classrooms aren't getting filled."
Tramel told the board Thursday that one current substitute teacher in the district expressed a concern with Kelly Staffing.
Columbia and Jefferson City schools use Kelly Education Staffing for their substitute teachers. The New Bloomfield school district will continue to do more research on how substitute paraprofessionals fit in at Kelly.
New Bloomfield Schools' current substitute paraprofessionals would be able to become Kelly employees. However, New Bloomfield school administrators expressed concern Thursday night that Kelly's no-touch policy may be a problem for the handful of substitute teacher's aides who work in special education classrooms.
The school board and Kelly representatives discussed a couple options to work around that potential problem. One proposed solution was to keep the substitute paraprofessionals employed through the school district and use Kelly Staffing for the rest of the substitute teachers. That would mean the substitute paraprofessionals would require the school district to perform HR tasks and for the district to compensate someone for performing those HR tasks.
Jennings suggested the district's full-time teachers and potential substitute paraprofessionals could work together to switch places when necessary to avoid situations where a Kelly employee would have to help a child with something that involves physical touch.
After obtaining additional research, the school board will vote on whether or not Kelly Staffing is a good fit for the New Bloomfield School District.