Kelly Education Services to provide substitute teachers
Kelly Education Services will provide substitute teachers for the School District of Lee County, at least until the end of the school year.
District staff said this week the transition for the Guest Teacher Program will be seamless, as existing subs will be contacted to “simply transition their employment to the company.”
The transition will take place in January and the contract will run through June.
Although the outsourcing is bringing angst to the substitutes, the agreement brings a pay raise, officials said of the contract approved by the Lee County School Board.
• Less than a bachelor’s degree – $17 an hour
• Bachelor’s degree or higher – $22 an hour
• Verified retired educator – $27 an hour
There is also a $500 bonus pay for 30 days of coverage.
The contract also includes Kelly Services handling the administrative tasks of hiring subs, which includes screening, vetting potential candidates and ensuring they meet necessary qualifications and background check requirements.
The important part of working with Kelly Services, Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said, is the online interface for both teachers that need a substitute and providing substitutes with the option to continue to work at the school they love.
“They allow substitutes to make their choices,” he said.
Board member Jada Langford-Fleming said the district has to do something, as teachers are struggling with covering classes.
“The guest teachers, as far as I am concerned will always be a part of the Lee County School District. We are all one team, and you are part of that team. That is how I feel about it,” she said. “I am comfortable moving forward as long as the term of the contract allows us to terminate that it is in fact costing taxpayers money and not fulfilling the goal we are trying to meet.”
Langford-Fleming said she wants to see a quarterly updates on how things are going, which could come before the board as early as March.
Before the board’s approval Tuesday night, members of the public spoke against the piggyback with Orange County Public Schools for substitute teacher services, awarded to Kelly Services, Inc. of Orlando, for the period of Nov. 7, 2023, through June 30, 2024, for up to $8,500,000, with an option to cancel if deemed to be in the best interest of the district.”
Lee County Association of Professional Substitute Teachers President Sheridan Chester told the board that the substitute teachers are more than willing to work.
“They just want to know that they are still going to be a part of the Lee County School District and not Kelly,” she said. “This is the concern that we are going to be separated — that we are not going to have the same kind of input. Teachers are willing and ready to work as long as we are working with you and not against each other.”
Bernier said anytime there is a shift there is some angst. He said no matter whom the substitute teachers are directly working for, they are a group of people the district values and wants to continue communicating with.
We want to “ensure they remain part of the family conversation about what is happening in our classroom and in our schools with our leaders and with each other,” Bernier said.
He reiterated the same sentiments he shared a week prior regarding the importance of not having a vacant classroom.
“At the very best it is chaotic at a school building when a sub doesn’t come, or a class is uncovered. In other cases, it could lead to another sub when someone is asked to cover a classroom and for every right and purpose, they decide they are not up to that task on that day,” Bernier said. “We are trying to exhaust in this day and age of limited resources in another manner in which we can relieve some of the pressure on some of our amazing educators in our school building.”
The district is trying to ensure it is doing everything possible to have more substitutes and ensure more classes are covered, he said.
Board member Melisa Giovannelli pulled the agenda item to have further discussion before the unanimous vote was taken.
“I know we need to help and support our teachers. I am concerned we did not have adequate stakeholder input and that makes me somewhat hesitant in supporting the outsourcing,” she said. “We have been less that transparent with the guest teachers and community that we served. We should have afforded stakeholder communication and conversation with what they were thinking.”
She initially asked the board to table the item before agreeing with other board members that the district is in dire need of teachers.
She asked for stakeholder input in a survey or questionnaire to know that the process is working in favor of teachers.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com