North Allegheny seeking custodians, school nurses, bus drivers and substitute teachers

The North Allegheny School District’s recruitment efforts to hire new teachers and paraprofessionals for the 2022-2023 school year is expected to begin in April, according to Marijane Treacy, director of Human Resources.

Overall, the staffing level at the district is in a comfortable, but cautious, position, Treacy said.

“As a district we are not immune to the shortages impacting other districts and businesses in the area. We consistently have a need for custodians, bus drivers, substitute teachers and substitute nurses,” she said.

Treacy presented the North Allegheny School Board with a mid-year staffing update at its Feb. 23 meeting.

The first report is given in the fall based on third-day enrollment and staffing numbers in September.

The mid-year report records the same collection of data on the first day of the second semester, which fell on Jan. 14.

Positions becoming increasingly more challenging to fill include jobs for working with special education students. The district has current openings.

“We do the best we can,” she said.

Long-term substitutes are regularly utilized to fill long-term absences of professional staff.

These absences can be for illness, disability, pandemic-related conditions, child-bearing and rearing, and Family and Medical Leave Act events, according to Treacy. Long-term absences can require some creative work in finding replacements, whether for professional staff, administrators, or support staff.

“It’s a complex process, a juggling process,” said Treacy.

School buildings are assigned substitutes, who can be used for long-term substitute positions, she said.

There are also day-to-day substitutes for short absences.

Mid-year current staffing shows 36 administrators; 690 professional employees, including full-time, part-time and long-term substitute positions; approximately 222 paraprofessionals, who include special education assistants; about 48 confidential employees, such as those in technology, financial, and other areas; 94 custodial and maintenance employees,a seven-person increase from last year; and 96 bus drivers, garage and maintenance workers.

Professional staff includes specialized educators and personnel who provide service to students. Some examples include teachers, school nurses, and counselors, according to Treacy.

The report shows that 48.5% of administrators have either a master’s degree or a doctorate or both. Doctorates account for 1.5% of professional staff, while 70.6% of professional staff have a master’s, according to the report.

With an enrollment of 8,499 students, ratio of professional staff to students in North Allegheny is about 11 students to one staffer.

This is the same ratio the report listed for Hampton Township and Pine-Richland. Mt. Lebanon has about a one to 12 ratio, Fox Chapel at one to 10, and Quaker Valley is approximately one to nine, according to the report.

Treacy said Human Resources at NA continues to work hard at recruitment and retainment.

While staffing is at a comfortable level, Treacy said, there’s always a need for new substitute teachers, and the district recruits all year long.

“With the shrinking pipeline of teachers going into the profession, districts need to become creative on how to attract new substitutes to work for their district,” she said.

NA is in its fourth cohort of a guest substitute program that allows non-certified individuals to become substitute teachers for the school year, upon approval of the state Department of Education.

“We have implemented other strategies to assist with daily staffing needs to keep students engaged and on track with coursework in the absence of regular staff,” Treacy said.

Another area that may be in question is the adequate staffing of bus drivers.

She said North Allegheny employs bus drivers directly. The district does supplement with some contracted services, but having in-house transportation services has been beneficial. The district is still affected by the bus driver shortage.

“But we have amped up recruiting and training efforts and are seeing an increase in applicants. Our transportation staff provides a valuable service and good experience for our students and we welcome additional individuals to join the team,” Treacy said.

Dr. Melissa Friez, superintendent at North Allegheny, recognized the hard work of all school district staff.

“If you see a staff member, make sure to say ‘thank you’ to them,” she said.

District currently has openings for custodians and school nurses. For custodians, a variety of shifts are available as well as part-time and full-time positions, according to Treacy.

She said information about available positions can be found on www.northallegheny.org/careers.