I found out after school today that 6 more teachers have resigned from
Campo Verde High School either effective immediately or at the end of the
year.
Currently available attrition data:
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | % inc | |
| Certified Employees | 211 | 264 | 25% | |
| Certified Employees - 1st 3 months of the year | 51 | 47 | 55* | 15% |
* - through 2.5 months number is 45, I personally am aware of 10
teachers leaving, actual number is probably higher
Despite our differences, I believe we can all agree that this kind of
attrition is bad for our students, bad for our teachers and bad for our
community.
I would recommend the following
actions:
- An open letter from Dr. K to all employees talking positively about the future (everyone that I know who has met her has been impressed)
- Discuss attrition at the March 25th board meeting - review the complete data and have a constructive and open discussion
- Remove all items from the board agenda other than budget approval and development of a hiring/retention plan until these items are complete
- Request a review of a hiring plan at the March 25th board meeting - provide teachers and the community with a Principal hiring time line
- Conduct exit interviews to understand why teachers are leaving
- Pull in the date to offer contracts to teachers
- Many other districts are offering contracts earlier. Teachers that don't want to leave are doing so because they are concerned about not having a contract. I know that we have significant budget concerns. However, given the number of teachers leaving, I think it would be unlikely that this would cause the budget to over run. I wouldn't favor it, but you could do this by subject area if necessary; offering contracts earlier to teachers in more difficult to fill areas.
I would ask you to seriously consider
these suggestions. We have a significant problem and it needs to be addressed
quickly. It will take many years to replace the lost experience, and we need to
start now.
I think the exit interviews would be incredibly enlightening. Thank you for pulling this information together and writing the letter. Hopefully someone will take up your suggestions and address this issue.
ReplyDeleteIt would be helpful if you actually calculated the attrition rate. Raw numbers really don't tell the whole story. For example, 211 people leaving a company with 500 employees sounds concerning, but if there are thousands employed at the company it doesn't sound like a cause for alarm.
ReplyDeleteOnce you actually have the attrition rate calculated, a more accurate picture of what is going on will emerge.
Tamara, you are correct that attrition rate data would be more helpful. Unfortunately this information is not readily available. I have asked the superintendent and board to provide this information. I can say that the employee base is similar for both years, so the increase in employee turnover is real and the 2014 numbers appear to be getting larger.
ReplyDeleteAssuming the numbers you have above are correct, the only other numbers you would need from the district to figure attrition rates are the number of employees in GPS with a breakout of how many are certified and how many are classified. According to the Town of Gilbert's 2011 Annual Report, GPS employed 4,172 people. I am guessing that number has remained pretty steady over the past 2-3 years.
ReplyDeleteYou have 4119.29 certified staff in the district, but that includes principals. You can find exact numbers at http://www.ade.az.gov/sder/ReportGenerationPublic.asp
ReplyDeleteRandy - Thank you for providing this link. It is an excellent source of data. Your 4119 number is total district employment. Certified staff is 2327.
ReplyDelete