The Fox C-6 School District will pay administrators and teachers a bonus if they submit retirement or separation notices before Jan. 13.
This is the second year the district is offering the stipend to combat the teacher shortage in Missouri and give Fox the opportunity and time needed to find applicants to fill open positions, district officials said.
“The earlier we can post positions the better pool of candidates we will have to consider putting in front of our kids,” Superintendent Paul Fregeau said.
Board of Education members voted 6-1 Nov. 1 to offer the stipend, paying $500 to those who notify Fox by Dec. 16 about their plans to leave after this school year and $300 to those submitting separation paperwork by Jan. 13. Board member Kenny Woolsey voted against paying the stipend.
“I just feel like teachers are going to decide to retire when the numbers are right,” Woolsey said. “Last year, it got a little wishy-washy with some of the teachers feeling like they were duped into resigning early. Also, some of the argument is there is a teacher shortage in Missouri, and I don’t necessarily feel that way. It is more convenient to have this information early, but I hate to use taxpayer money for conveniences.”
Last year, Fox offered the same incentive plan with deadlines of Dec. 18, 2021, to receive $500 and Jan. 17 to receive $300. Then on March 28, the board approved raising teachers’ salaries for the next three years.
Fox teacher salaries increased by an average of 6.53 percent this school year, said Kelly Bracht, assistant superintendent in charge of human resources.
She said the district employs about 850 teachers.
The three-year deal with the Fox NEA Teachers also increased the starting salary for teachers with a bachelor’s degree from $37,175 to $41,500. The deal increases teachers’ salaries by an average of 2.35 percent for the 2023-2024 school year and 2.17 percent for the 2024-2025 school year, Fox CFO John Stewart said.
“I know last year we did this and it seemed like a good idea, and then we gave our teachers a pretty significant raise and some of them were very disappointed in that,” said board vice president Jim Chellew, who voted in favor of offering the incentive again. “Of course, that won’t be the situation this year because we’re on a three-year contract. I worry about the idea of doing this and then something happens significant in one’s life and for $500 they’ve given their career away.”
Bracht said if someone submits their notice to leave Fox and their separation or retirement is approved by the board, the board members may reverse the separation.
“It would be a discussion for the board to have in closed session, and then we would go from there,” Bracht said. “That (allowing someone to return to a position) would be a board decision.”
Success
Bracht said 27 administrators or teachers submitted separation notices by Dec. 18, 2021, and each one received the $500 stipend. She said two administrators or teachers submitted separation paperwork by Jan. 17 and each received the $300 stipend.
Bracht said the district paid a total of $14,100 to administrators or teachers who provided early notice of separation last school year.
She said 90 administrators or teachers left Fox after the 2020-2021 school year.
Bracht said the stipend is not in place to encourage anyone to leave the district, but instead it is meant to give the Fox district the opportunity to find the best candidate to fill a vacated position.
“The Fox C-6 School District prides itself on recruiting the highest quality applicants for open positions,” she said. “One way to do that is to post jobs earlier in the hiring season. The sooner an employee notifies the district of their plans to separate, the earlier we can post that position and hire a qualified candidate. Historically, positions that are posted earlier in the hiring season have larger, more talented applicant pools.”
Adjusting
Bracht said Fox is working to adjust its hiring process for administrators and teachers to speed it up. Bracht reviewed the hiring process with the board on Sept. 7.
She said currently prospective administrators and teachers take an assessment test while filling out online applications to determine if they are the proper fit for the position. The assessment tests are scored by a third-party provider that reports the scores to the Fox district.
The applicant then may be asked to interview by video with a principal or director in charge of filling the open position. After the video interview is reviewed, an applicant may be brought in for a committee interview, and then the committee recommends who to bring in for a final interview with a director supervisor and other district administrators.
Bracht said during the application and interview process, the district’s human resource department checks references. After a prospective candidate is recommended to be hired, the human resource department verifies the candidate’s certification. The district also is required by state law to collect specific information about any reported child abuse and past employment.
After that information is collected, Bracht said a qualified and vetted candidate is offered the job, pending board approval. Then the district completes a background check on the candidate before seeking board approval to hire the candidate for the position.
She said it takes about 20 workdays after a candidate applies for a position before he or she starts working for Fox.
“We have made changes to cut down on our process and make it easier for administrators and candidates to get through our hiring process more quickly,” Bracht said.
She said the Fox district has streamlined its applications, removing or combining questions that were redundant. She also said background checks have been streamlined to eliminate confusing language.
Bracht said Fox is considering if it will continue to use the assessment tests and video interviews. She also said the district will consider how it uses committees during the hiring process.
“We will be making some changes, possibly, to the hiring process,” Bracht said.