Graphic by Owensboro Times
Using a large portion of recent emergency relief funds, Owensboro Public Schools is adding more than 30 new positions to help lessen class sizes and provide more individualized attention to students.
Superintendent Matthew Constant said OPS won’t be the only district offering extra positions, adding that 75% of the $6 million would be spent on funding the additional jobs.
With the funding on a finite timeline, many of the additional positions will be offered on a two-year contract.
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Constant said they asked district principals what principals preferred the emergency funding to be spent on, and additional staff was the primary answer.
“What came out of that … was several positions that we took back to principals and said, ‘Here’s what you have. You may use it for certified positions if you want to. You may use it for support positions if you want to,’” Constant said. “They all made decisions about what they’d like to do. We know if we can get them posted soon, we can get ahead of that hiring season.”
The support positions will include two instructional assistants at Hager Preschool; one intervention assistant at Cravens Elementary; one instructional assistant at Newton Parrish Elementary; one instructional assistant at Owensboro Middle School; and one resource instructional assistant at Emerson Academy.
The certified positions include two interventionists at Cravens; two teachers and one interventionist at Estes Elementary; two teachers and two interventionists at Foust Elementary; two teachers at Newton Parrish; one interventionist and one half-teacher at Sutton Elementary; a guidance counselor at Owensboro Innovation Academy; four interventionists at OMS; and five teachers and one guidance counselor at Owensboro High School.
“Through those titles you can hear the very ways those schools want to use those positions,” Constant said. “This news comes as great news for principals who may have had a slight cut in site-based allocation. Really, we’re going to be fine on positions throughout because we’ve got this gift given to us.”
With the $6 million in funding, OPS will also add two positions at Central Office. As part of the district’s reorganization efforts, new positions will include one director of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as a director of transportation, health and safety.
“The director of diversity, equity and inclusion will do two major things for us,” Constant said. “One, to help us advance the work we know is ahead of us in diversity, equity and inclusion — and Hanover [Research] is working right now on data back for us. I think we’ll have a whole lot of direction and strategy for this person to do.”
Secondly, Constant said, OPS had some families that left the school district during the COVID-19 pandemic that officials needed to reach out to directly and see what they could do to “get them back.”
“This person would also be an assistant DPP. They would assist Mr. Howell, who does that on a full-time basis,” he said. “I think it would be that much work to do.”
Constant said the director of transportation, health and safety would handle things that had become big issues at OPS.
“The health we know is going to be a bigger priority than what this board has tasked me with, and deservedly so,” Constant said. “Safety has also been a really big issue for us, and I would like one person to coordinate all of the safety.”
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March 27, 2021 at 12:13PM
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OPS using emergency funds to create more than 30 new positions throughout district - The Owensboro Times
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