Amanda Henderson

 

What is your number one concern for the 2023-2024 school year?

Currently, I’m focused on filling job openings. In the past, we would hire instructional assistants and elementary teachers from a large pool of candidates.  That pool is practically nonexistent.  Filling positions is hard right now no matter what position.  To help aid in the shortage, we’re hiring teachers with Alternative Certification.

Kentucky’s Education Professional Standards Board has allowed nine different options for certification other than the traditional way, so we’re utilizing those options to get teachers in classrooms.  We also use our state’s Emergency Certification for teaching because we may not have one certified candidate for a specific subject.  The Emergency Certification allows someone with a bachelor’s degree to get a one-year teaching certification.

Hiring custodians to cooks to bus drivers is a struggle across my district and our region. In the past, we’ve had a lot of candidates to select from.  We’ve been struggling to get even one candidate for openings.  And that’s my biggest concern; must make sure all jobs are filled with a qualified person that will be best for kids.

Looking long term, where do you see the five-year vision for your district?

This past year we created a strategic plan for our district. We have a pathway and are positioned to do what is needed to follow this vision. There are several intentional things we are focused on to build our staff.

PublicSchoolWORKS will be a key piece in training all staff but especially our classified personnel. We have the PSW video resources to provide more knowledge about the safety aspects of their job.

Our district has been approved to have Non-Traditional Instruction days when a snow day occurs. This means students and staff can work from home. PublicSchoolWORKS videos will be utilized for staff on those days. We want to use those opportunities to grow our staff when students aren’t in school.

We have very dedicated teachers so we have a small percentage of turnover. We’re very competitive in certified salaries so when we invest in them, they invest in us.

What is the role of technology in the changes in your district?

We started one to one (one tablet per one student) during Covid.  We gained a new CIO who started a refresh plan where every five years, the building gets new devices. The buildings are on rotation so it’s sustainable for our tech staff and the budget.

Most of our kids have access to devices. Our issue is student access to the internet at home. You can drive up to our buildings and access the Wi-Fi from the parking lot.  Little to no internet service or cell service is likely in some areas of our county which is a downfall of living in a very rural area.

We have two Digital Learning Coaches that assist teachers in technology integration in their classrooms. We are also big in Professional Learning Communities so our staff is constantly collaborating and discussing how to meet students’ needs. We use Frontline’s Time & Attendance system so everyone “clocks in.” It’s a wonderful system for us because we know who is in the building in case of an emergency. It has also caused staff to have to use devices or an app which has made some more comfortable with technology and devices.

Our Personnel Department is all digital. It all starts with an online application.  When we onboard a new hire, everything from required tax forms to the PSW trainings are online. We were extremely excited how well the PublicSchoolWORKS implementation went for our staff.  It was easy for them to access and get logged in to PSW for the first time. And, the help from the PSW support line for those who needed it was unmatched compared to other companies.

In terms of teacher retention, you’re providing them with competitive salaries and training. Are you doing anything else to help with retention?

We also celebrate! We’ve given out Marshall County shirts that we wear on Friday. This past year, we recognized staff at school board meetings for their accomplishments with the Above and Beyond Award. Our Public Relations coordinator focuses on taking pictures of staff to put on websites and our social media, giving them recognition for their work. We regularly complete walkthroughs of buildings and give positive notes so it’s personal. “Your work doesn’t go unnoticed” is something I frequently include in my emails. It may be your job, but we really appreciate you for doing it!

How is Marshall cultivating an environment to promote mental health?

We have mental health counselors/practitioners and lots of mental health support. Unfortunately, Marshall was in a school shooting in 2018, and a lot of state regulation statues changed after that. One change is trying to have a certain number of counselors per a certain amount of students. We hired five mental health counselors/practitioners. We have partnered with therapy centers in our area so that we have multiple mental health practitioners from those centers in our schools as well. We have ways for kids to report things anonymously, online filters that look for certain words written by students, and other things that focus on preventive measures.

We focus a lot on the mental health of students, but we also look at the employee side of mental health. We have an Employee Assistance Program that allows our employees three free counseling sessions and we just contracted with CareSolace to help schedule counseling sessions for students, staff, and their families.  If we see an employee with need, we try to jump in with resources. Around holiday time, we share our mental health resources since that is often a hard time of year for many. Payroll sends monthly emails includes our mental health resources so staff have monthly reminders and easy access to that information.

Final Thoughts

What really sets PublicSchoolWORKS apart from other services is their customer service. I’ve built a great relationship with Ben, our account rep.  Our safety advisor, Cris, is a great guy, and I’ve gotten to know Cris, our Safety Advisor, so well that I feel like I should send him a Christmas card! I could call either night or day and they would respond to me. Jacob, in IT, worked with me and our ERP provider for weeks to ensure our data integration was successful. And, the toll free number was a game changer for us! We had very few emails asking for help because staff had that number and PSW took care of it.