Kane County Reporter

At its March 13 meeting, the Kaneland Community Unit School District Board of Education discussed the minimum staffing levels for the upcoming school year. 

 The minimum staffing level is presented in March to give the district a heads-up about potential needs or changes, and to allow district teachers time to look for other jobs if the need arises. 

The district evaluates the minimum level based on several different factors including overall enrollment, course selection, special education and department needs, and class sizes, which they try to keep at 21-22 for K-2, 22-24 for 3-5, and a maximum of 26 for middle school and high school.

“Please know, too, we've had some conversations here at the board about the challenges involved in hiring some of our specialized staff,” director of Human Resources Chris Adkins said. “Looking ahead, the administration has moved forward with tentatively hiring (in) high-needs areas: psychologists, social workers, speech pathologist, special ed. teachers specifically. And to that end, we're in a very healthy place today for staffing next year. I'm very proud to share at the high school, specifically, minus the dean, which we’re working on, we're fully staffed for next year to include the psychologist position that's been open all year, (and) in the speech language pathologist position that's been open all year.”

The board uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the district’s YouTube channel.

Based on the projections from the end of January 2023, which will likely change before the end of the current school year, the district is estimating an increase of around 2.5  full-time equivalent (FTE) for certified instructional education due to increased programs and interest from students. 

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, "The calculation of full-time equivalent (FTE) is an employee's scheduled hours divided by the employer's hours for a full-time workweek. When an employer has a 40-hour workweek, employees who are scheduled to work 40 hours per week are 1.0 FTEs. Employees scheduled to work 20 hours per week are 0.5 FTEs."

The levels for next year involve dropping a 0.2 FTE position, a music instructor from the high school, due to lack of enrollment, and a 0.5 FTE position that is actually just a reduction from a full-time to part-time teacher at the middle school. The high school will have a total of 1.7 FTE reductions, but 1.0 of it consists of tenths, teachers just having to drop one class period from their schedule. Elementary schools will have a 3.5 position reduction across the district, their Personalized Learning Academy will see an increase of 9.7 FTE positions, Harter Middle School will have a 2.0 position reduction.

The minimum staffing levels do not take into account teachers moving in or out of the district for reasons like retirement, moving out of the area, or resignations, which would involve a new hire but not a change in the levels of staffing. The overall district change of 2.5 increase shows an overall growth of staffing levels, and the reductions in some buildings could mean letting a teacher go or just allowing them to transition to other responsibilities in the building or district. A more finalized staffing plan will be presented after the current school year.

The board also discussed resolutions authorizing a reduction in workforce and honorable dismissal of non-tenured and tenured teachers.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on April 10 at Kaneland Harter Middle School at 1601 Esker Drive.