March 28, 2024

CCSD seeks substitute

CCSD School Board considers possibility of hiring a staffing service in place of current system to address teacher absenteeism

The Creston Community School District School Board listened to a presentation from a substitute teacher staffing service during the monthly board meeting Monday night in the administrative building.

Wayne Gilman gave the presentation on behalf of Teachers On Call, a firm based out of Minnesota that currently serves 180 districts within the Midwest. The company would take over the responsibilities of filling absences with viable candidates suited best to fill the role of that specific classroom. The service is mostly web-based, providing users with a dashboard that allows for efficient substitute communication and management.

“I was a client and used this service while I was a superintendent in Minnesota,” said Gilman. “About a third of Minnesota districts are using this service.”

Gilman said that Teachers On Call currently does not have a presence in Iowa but said this would benefit the district as the firm would waive the standard setup fee charged to a school district based off of enrollment.

The board’s consideration comes as an attempt to curb the average teacher daily absenteeism, which nationally is between 8 and 10 percent.

“From kindergarten through senior year, a student is projected to spend a total of one year of their life with a substitute teacher,” said Gilman.

Superintendent Deron Stender said Gilman and administration had met with a few of the district’s regular substitutes and that the response seemed to be mostly positive.

“One of them said they were down with it, that they were okay with it,” said Stender. “Most of them thought it was a good idea.”

Teachers On Call would receive 28% of what the substitute received as payment, with 17% of that being the cost of taxes, thus giving the firm a profit of 11% per substitute. Stender said that the cost should be “expense neutral” given the amount of work the service undertakes and frees from the district.The firm covers FICA, workman’s compensation and long-term disability for the substitutes, but they would not be eligible for IPERS through the service due to Teachers On Call not being a government employer. Board president Galen Zumbach displayed some concern over the issue, stating that there could be substitutes who had taught for years prior and still work enough to pay into IPERS that could be negatively affected by the change.

The board plans to discuss the possibility of the service at a later date.

In other school board news:

Third grade teacher Staci Kline and middle school social studies teacher Bobbi Oelmann each presented a SAC report about progress and initiatives being taken in social studies classes in the district. Focus has been placed on provoking student interest with compelling questions while simultaneously using the subject to teach reading skills.

• Early Childhood Center principal Callie Anderson shared results from last spring’s Iowa Assessment of Student Progress exams and discussed changes to best help students improve scores this year. One suggested change is the spacing out of the scheduling of writing portions of the exams to lessen student fatigue.

• Board secretary Billie Jo Greene provided the business report, highlighting the progress made for the district’s Raptor project. The goal is to require visitors to scan their state identification cards in order to properly screen them before allowing entry to any facility in the district. The system automatically checks the sex offender’s registry to ensure safety for students and faculty.

• The board voted to approve an agreement with Crossroads Behavior Health Services in order to facilitate the provision of school-based mental health services. This agreement will allow professionals at Crossroads more access to patients who attend the school district and will not cost anything to implement. The motion to approve was made by Don Gee and seconded by Terry Freeman, passing unanimously among present board members. Dr. Brad James was not in attendance.

The next regular board meeting will be 6 p.m. Feb. 17 in the board room of the administration building. A public hearing will be held to approve the proposed security and safety improvement project, which will be receiving bids 2 p.m. Feb. 6.