An update on the human resources department of the South East Cornerstone Public School Division was provided to the board members on Nov. 21.
Keith Keating, the division’s deputy director of education, who had also assumed the duties of the human resources superintendent in the latest reshuffling of administration roles within the system, spoke about handling the dual roles and human resource numbers.
Keating said he can cover two main areas that include oversight of human resource services, and that will continue into the next academic year.
By means of a graphic chart, Keating outlined the various leadership roles within the Cornerstone system and what department they report to.
On the educational staffing level, he said the division has 513.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions filled. They also have 38.95 FTE positions filled by learning support teachers.
Keating said unassigned time in schools and unassigned time outside of staffing take up just over 28 and 12 FTE positions, respectively.
On the support staff side of the human resources equation, Keating said Cornerstone currently employs 125.58 FTE educational assistants and just over 21 FTE library technicians, along with 45.36 FTE administrative assistants.
As for the transportation side, there are 123.5 FTE positions filled and another 86.53 FTE positions filled in custodial positions that include cleaning and maintenance.
The information systems roll call sees 13 people responding while there are just under seven FTE positions being filled in the finance, payroll and human resources branch. At the division level there are currently five educational administrative assistants.
Keating said negotiations have begun, or are about to begin, with two unionized employee groups who are employed under the banners of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Service Employees International Union-West (SEIU). Both of those contracts ran out at the end of August.
The human resources sector also deals with such matters as budget shortfalls and their impact on staffing levels, and the aforementioned bargaining sessions that sometimes lead to job actions from the unionized groups.
The department also deals with any legal actions and is front and centre on recruitment for key positions such as administrators, small rural school educators, and specialized positions such as speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and other consultants.
“These positions are especially hard to fill. We currently have one unfilled occupational therapist position, all the rest are filled,” Keating told the board.
The targeted work areas include examination and preparation of different staffing levels that are contingent on budget and also administering of the new collective bargaining agreement with the teachers. The deputy director role is also involved with setting the school calendar each year and working with other partners.
Keating also noted an administrator evaluation pilot project was launched in the previous school year with full implementation expected in the 2018-19 school year. It is aimed at developing an administration program as well as a recruitment element for those difficult to fill positions.
Cornerstone is also piloting a five-year formative assessment process as part of its teacher supervision and evaluation regime to develop a process of direct feedback to teachers through administrator observations every five years. The full implementation of this program will be carried out in the 2019-20 school year.
On the union bargaining front, Keating said talks have begun with the SEIU and they are waiting for the first discussion with the CUPE representatives.
