By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
As the St. Joseph School District makes the shift to its new school model next school year, district officials are reorganizing staffing within the schools.
Superintendent Ashly McGinnis says as the district continues making staffing decisions, placement decisions for school principals have been made for next year.
McGinnis says getting the principals placed within the buildings is important for the staff
“A lot of our staff want to know who's going to be my supervisor, who will be my principal,” McGinnis explains on the KFEQmunnity show. “And so, there’s some relationship pieces there and we wanted to make sure we made those announcements as soon as possible, to give some relief to our administrators but also to the staff so they know and can start thinking about where they may want to go.”
McGinnis says the next step is giving staff the choice of where they want to be. McGinnis says staff were asked to give their first and second choices of what school they would like, but says staffing will be chosen based on some qualifications
“We are going to look at certification first, certification indicates that we have a highly qualified teacher in the classroom, and we all know that’s the number one predictor of success, of academic success for our students,” McGinnis explains. “Abd so we want to make sure those teachers are certified, but then we’re also looking at how many years of service they’ve been in our St. Joseph School District.”
McGinnis says those conversations will be taking place this month with one-on-one meetings as the district moves towards getting teachers in the classroom for next year in the new model.
Assistant Superintendent of Academics Stacia Studer says there is a sweet spot when it comes to teaching and educators
"So, when you think about that and you think about effective teachers in learning, we want that teacher to be in their sweet spot,” Studer says.
As an example, Studer says with a more consistent middle school model coming, with sixth grade at the elementary schools, it's about asking teachers at the middle schools
"Would you perhaps want to go serve at sixth grade at the elementary, or what’s your preference here?” Studer explains what’s asked of teachers. “And so, we want to listen to our educators, we value and respect the work they do every single day.”
Studer also emphasizes that’s why it's important teachers are giving more than one option of what school they would like to end up at.
The St. Joseph School District will move to two high schools next year with Central and Benton, and move to four middle schools, closing Pershing and Field Elementary.
JOURNAL
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.