Carson City School District administration building.
The Carson City School District gradually is filling open positions for the 2022-23 year but still has more than 50 vacancies to fill.
The district’s job fair takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at its administrative office, 1402 W. King St. Teaching and substitute applicants are encouraged to come Tuesday, while bus drivers, cooks and bakers, paraprofessionals, custodians, groundskeepers, maintenance workers and others also are needed. Positions are available immediately, including entry-level, part- and full-time. Student workers also are needed.
Dan Sadler, associate superintendent of human resources, told trustees Tuesday that high-needs jobs are for special education paraprofessionals, which have been a challenge for CCSD to fill in recent years.
In all, the district will begin the year with 873 employees, and human resources to date has filled 54 certified, 16 classified, seven administrator and five executive positions. As of Tuesday’s board meeting, there were 27 certified, 22 classified and one administrator position vacant. Two classified and five certified jobs were filled with critical labor shortage designations.
The district recently had 137 substitute teachers prepared, and Sadler said staff is updating its roster and adding emergency substitutes. Candidates need at least a high school diploma, with CCSD providing training.
Trustee Mike Walker suggested combining positions for those seeking more hours but have experienced longer gaps in their day, such as encouraging bus drivers to help as lunch aides, after discussing more creative means to help fill such positions with Superintendent Andrew Feuling, he said.
He also suggested paying for emergency licenses for substitutes since they’re only valid for one year and hard for emergency substitutes to afford.
“At my school, I’ve had a lot of paraprofessionals who had emergency sub licenses let it expire because they couldn’t afford to keep paying the $85 or whatever it is now to renew every single year,” Walker said. “And so, when you’re having those discussions, maybe you could push we need to extend that more than one year or bring down the price because it’s cost prohibitive to the subs and we desperately need them.”
The board also discussed potential impacts brought on by COVID-19 and the results on the district’s hiring process. Trustee Joe Cacioppo said many community or staff members might have questions about using standard recruitment tools such as Indeed.com or LinkedIn and resorting to paying recruiters, and they agreed it often is costly to do so. Sadler acknowledged retention is as challenging as hiring.
“What we’ve done forever isn’t going to work,” Walker said. “We want to commend you for thinking outside the box and embracing what’s new. … And every position is equally important from the lowest-paying position up. I think people who work in schools understand that.”
Feuling also announced recent approval from the Nevada Department of Education for an Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief grant specific to special education for CCSD’s alternative standard classrooms, formerly known as its Comprehensive Life Skills classes for autism, he said. The funding will support retention bonuses for current certified staff or paraprofessionals or hiring bonuses for new staff members joining the district for the first time at $2,500 or $5,000 amounts. Feuling called the approval “significant” in motivating more special education staff members to stay or apply.
The district is looking for licensed teachers in math, science, special education, elementary education, engineering, culinary arts and instructional coaching. Prospective employees who have a bachelor’s degree in an area other than teaching who could be interested in becoming a licensed teacher through the Alternative Routes to Licensure program in Nevada also are urged to look into the district’s offerings.
All employees are eligible to receive a financial bonus during the 2022-23 school year. All classified positions are eligible to receive $1,500; custodians and bus drivers are eligible to receive $2,000; special education paraprofessionals are eligible to receive $2,000 and classroom teachers are eligible to receive $1,000.
The job fair is free to job seekers and registration is not required. It is recommended interested applicants dress professionally and come with extra copies of their resume. For information, call 775-283-2130.
