Center Grove teachers Ashlee Vitz, back, and Peggy Young staged a grade-in to demonstrate work they do outside contract hours during an Oct. 20 school board meeting. A new committee has goals of retaining, recruiting and recognizing Center Grove teachers.
DAILY JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
A year after 50 Center Grove Community School Corporation teachers resigned for reasons other than retirement, school district officials have formed a committee to stop the exodus.
The Teacher Recruitment, Retention and Recognition Task Force began meeting in September, in the midst of a tense bargaining period that had about 150 teachers protesting at school board meetings in October, with another crowd of about 60 in November. The negotiations lasted through December, when the Center Grove Board of Trustees voted to approve a 5.65% pay raise for teachers, along with a $500 retention bonus and an insurance holiday for one pay period.
Members of the United Teachers Association of Center Grove, or UTACG objected to the percentage throughout the negotiations because it was the same increase given to administrators, who already made significantly more than starting teachers. Superintendent Rich Arknaoff, for example, now makes $237,981, more than five times the $46,015 minimum salary for a full-time teacher at Center Grove schools, according to data from Indiana Gateway.
While the negotiations won’t be discussed during task force meetings, the committee, which includes 27 teachers from all schools and grades, has brought the two sides closer together, said David Lawson, UTACG co-president and an English teacher at Center Grove High School.
Teachers and administrators are now looking toward the 2023-24 school year, and how best to retain, recruit and recognize teachers.
“We’re looking for solutions from increasing teacher pay to reducing work and the like,” Lawson said. “One of the things the district has acknowledged out of the committee is there has to be a reduction in the stress load, the amount of time outside of school doing preparative tasks, such as grading, planning lessons — a lot of things teachers do are unpaid. Every hour we work outside of contract is unpaid.”
Along with the 27 teachers in the task force, Jason Taylor, assistant superintendent, and Krista Nelson, director of human resources and student services, have attended the meetings to listen to what teachers have to say. The task force will present its findings to the school board in May, Nelson said.
During the monthly meetings, teachers are split into three groups, one focused on retention, one focused on recruitment and one focused on recognition. The groups have helped administrators recognize some improvements that can be made to both attract and retain teachers, Nelson said.
School district leaders have scheduled a signing ceremony in May for high school seniors planning to pursue a career in education. The ceremony will help students keep their home school district in mind when applying for jobs, she said.
“If you’d like to do teaching at Center Grove, we’d love to have you back and if you meet the requirements of the job you’ll be one of the first ones we interview,” Nelson said. “We’ve also tried to market Center Grove to local universities and programs to show them the great learning and work environment we have for future teachers.”
On the retention side, Center Grove teachers who resigned last year were asked why they left the school district. According to the survey, 15 teachers who resigned left the education profession altogether, the most common answer among the 50 resignations. Other top reasons included moving to a school district closer to home, moving out of state and focusing on personal health, according to school district data. The committee is working on solutions that will help reduce teacher workload outside of contract time and strengthen collegial working conditions, she said.
“Some of the things we discussed was workload for teachers and looking at supports in the classroom,” Nelson said. “We’ve looked at mentoring programs. We’ve got a fantastic teacher academy, but once teachers get into their second or third year, that mentor part goes away. We need to make sure not to pull the carpet from underneath them and continue the mentorship.”
Teachers often complete tasks for other educators hired on as an emergency replacement, as those new employees need to get acquainted with their classroom, Lawson said.
“One of the things the committee acknowledged was finding a way to limit workload, especially with the shortage of teachers. They’re still hiring emergency teachers and we’re developing materials for other classes along with preparing for our own classes,” he said. “If there is an unlicensed professional we have to collaborate to fill that vacuum.”
Along with the necessity of decreasing workload comes the need to recognize teachers for the work they do. While Center Grove schools named a Teacher of the Year on an annual basis, administrators would like to see teacher appreciation extended beyond that tradition, Nelson said.
“We need to make sure we have morale boosters and recognition throughout the year,” she said. “We want to make sure teachers are appreciated not only by the school district, but by the community. The task force is looking at putting together a year-long recognition program.”
