WEYBURN — Education you might say, begins with content. How that can be delivered to young minds in an educational system is a vital component of a school division’s human resources sector.
The role of the HR superintendent is not just restricted to educators, but includes all elements of support and outreach to students and their families.
Nathan Johnson, superintendent of human resources for the South East Cornerstone Public School Division was in the conference room at the division’s head office in Weyburn on Nov. 20 to provide an update to board members on the HR activities over the past several months.
After briefly referring to that sector’s organizational chart, Johnson, by means of a verbal report aided by some video charts, posted information for the members regarding such matters as staffing levels, employee agreements, risk management and a few projects, some recently launched and others on the horizon.
Beginning with the core group of teachers, Johnson said SECPSD supports 563 teachers and 648 support staff members who work within the division’s 35 schools plus other facilities, such as the head office.
Going into more detail, Johnson said the teaching group included 482.5 full time equivalent teaching positions plus 32.93 FTE response to intervention (RTI) teachers and 37.62 FTE learning support teachers (LST).
Recruitment continues as a crucial aspect of the human resources teams as they are responsible for acquiring the services of, not only teachers, but also administrators, substitute teachers, support staffers that include bus drivers and division office leaders.
Obtaining educators in difficult-to-fill roles such as French immersion instructors, practical and applied arts educators, teachers ready to educate learners in smaller rural schools as well as learning support teachers, and bus drivers, all come under the HR banner.
Currently SECPSD includes 230 educational assistants within its system as well as 46 administrative assistants, 78 caretakers and technicians, 158 bus drivers, 28 library technicians and 17 counsellors all within the support staff environments.
As far as union elements are concerned, Johnson said current agreements with CUPE and SEIU are in effect until August of next year while a local agreement with other professionals expires at the end of July 2027.
The out-of-scope handbook was last reviewed two years ago, in mid-February, he said.
In addressing the need for substitute teachers, Johnson said, “we are meeting the challenge.”
Other areas of focus for human resources include occupational health and safety, and the division is reaching the conclusion of their three-year plan and project.
Referring to other recent projects, Johnson noted the Atrieve online booking system for substitute teachers has been deployed since February and it will be used to book other support staff soon so the system can be more fully utilized. There have been some challenges such as “ensuring the right people are being called and calls to be made after 4 p.m.” have been smoothed out and appreciated.
Currently there are no major legal actions to meet, but there are always some elements of risk management to be addressed on a regular basis.
Accessing recruitment opportunities on a quicker response plan is being implemented and HR was ready to negotiate temporary contracts on a regular basis.
The Administrator Recruitment/Selection/Support Program launched in February is out and in place and will be used to find at least two administrators to fill roles in the next academic year due to retirements.
“We have an administration information night planned for early January,” he said.
Items such as grievances from employees also comes under the HR banner as well as reactions to the current teacher collective bargaining campaign and pending agreement.
Finding professionals to fill roles is a challenge, Johnson said, so they embrace such things as university hiring fairs, plus holding their own interview and hiring fair. HR also uses the Apply to Education service for advertising to attract candidates from across Canada and, naturally, they continue to access the current employee base to assist in the recruitment of candidates for employment in SECPSD. A social media presence is also important, as is a healthy internship program within the division that allows young educators emerging from the university to explore the local system to get a feel for the environments and opportunities that exist in southeast Saskatchewan.
Johnson wrapped up his presentation with words of thanks for the support of the governing board and they, in turn, thanked him for the role he is playing within the division.
