Administrators still working to fill positions

Administrators still working to fill positions Image From School News Reports Tue, 06/04/2024 - 20:22 Subhead |Sulphur Springs ISD Body

During April and May, Sulphur Springs ISD had several personnel changes.

District administrators are working to fill all the open positions.

“Resignations and positions are coming open every day now,” Steeber said just prior to the last day of the 2023-2024 school year. “We’re working hard to get those positions filled. We’ve got a decent number of applicants for our [open] positions. I do see an increase in the number of applicants. Special education teachers and dual language teachers are hard to come by. Those are probably our two hardest to fill positions. Things seemed to drastically change after COVID. State funding for education hasn’t changed since 2019. Things cost more now, but the state hasn’t made any adjustment to funding, and that affects teacher pay. But a fair amount of our open positions have been filled.”

Steeber said trying to stay competitive on salaries is a struggle for any school district. Increasing teacher and staff compensation and benefits was one of her priorities for the 2023-2024 school year, and that will continue into the 2024-2025 school year as well. Some of the numbers SSISD administrators are waiting on to complete the upcoming year’s budget are based on new property tax appraisal numbers. Since this is not a legislative session year, Steeber said the best chance would be the 2025-2026 school year. [The Texas Legislature meets in regular session from Jan. 14 to June 2, 2025. Additional special sessions of up to 30 days may be called at Gov. Greg Abbott’s discretion on whatever topics he believes warrant additional time.

Resignations

SSISD staff who tendered resignations in April included Allison Duke, SSHS Academic Dean of Students; Cannon Earp, SSHS basketball coach; Samantha Earp, SSHS counselor; Kerri Lane, SSES aide; Karina Perez, SSMS teacher; and Tyrik Rollison, SSHS coach.

May resignations were received from Carla Buck, Rowena Johnson Primary teacher; Katherine Cowart, SSISD reading and language arts/social studies coordinator; Jerrod Hammack, SSHS basketball coach and dual credit history teacher; Lauren Speer, SSES aide; and Taylor Thorsen, SSMS eighth grade science teacher.

All resignations were effective May 24, 2024. No further information was provided.

New Personnel

Ten new SSISD staff members were hired in April and May.

Kellie Bost was hired as a kindergarten teacher at Barbara Bush Primary.

Katelyn Kistler was hired to teach fifth grade English and social studies at SSES.

Meredith Rule was hired as a Title 1 aide at Rowena Johnson Primary.

Taylor Mitchem will be a PE teacher and head basketball coach at SSHS, with a start date of July 8.

Yeni Sanchez will begin her new position as a campus secretary at SSES on July 22.

Johnathan Toppings’ first day as a social studies teacher and coach at SSMS will be July 22.

Carina Barrett will be a special education aide at Barbara Bush Primary, starting Aug. 5.

Katie Cummings will be a first grade teacher at Bowie Primary, beginning Aug, 5.

Marisela Guillen will start Aug. 5 as a kindergarten science and social studies teacher at Travis Primary.

Personnel Changes

Seven current SSISD employees will be moving to new positions.

Jaidyn Schroeder, who was a Title I aide at Bowie Primary, will begin her new position as campus secretary at Bowie July 22, 2024.

Summer Flora, formerly a fourth grade math and science teacher at SSES, will begin her new role as a counselor on that campus on July 29, 2024.

Spanish teacher Lance Brandenburg will move from the SSHS campus to Sulphur Springs Middle School, effective Aug. 5.

Kathryne Cantu, currently a Title 1 aide at Bowie Primary, will move into a new role as a special education aide on that campus, starting Aug. 5.

Michelle Erdle, a second grade teacher at Bowie Primary, will become a special education/resource teacher on the same campus, beginning Aug. 5.

Barbara Gilham, formerly the special education/ resource teacher at Bowie Primary, will be the special education behavior teacher there as of Aug. 5.

Kassie Smith, who previously taught first grade at Bowie Primary, will begin teaching special education resource classes Aug. 5.

Retirements

Ten SSISD employees have announced their

intentions to retire from SSISD. These include: „ SSISD Technology Director Rodney White’s last day was Feb. 29.

„ The last day for Tammy Burnside, Kindergarten teacher at Bowie Primary; Matthew McCray, SSHS history teacher; and Suzy Rost, PE teacher at Douglass Early Childhood Learning Center, was May 24.

„ The last day for Talisa Harris, ESL teacher at SSHS; Ruanne Horton, dyslexia teacher at SSES; and Karen Moreland, science lab teacher at SSES, was May 28.

„ SSES Academic Specialist Sandy Stidham’s last day will be June 12; „ The last day for SSISD’s Director of Instruction and Learning, Janelle Safford, will be June 13; and „ SSISD tax clerk Peggy Beck’s last day will be Aug. 31.

„ SSISD personnel under contract have until Friday, July 5 to be released without penalty.

SSISD is currently conducting a demographic study, which could impact future staffing. The study will aid SSISD officials in predicting how many enrolling students to plan for next year. The results are expected to be available in June or July and will be discussed at a future school board meeting.