The details
During his president’s report at the board’s regular meeting on June 24, Bryan said the job posting for the superintendent position closed on June 15 and the district received 25 applications.
“We have reviewed those applications and have selected those in which we have an interest in inviting for an interview,” Bryan said.
Bryan said the board’s plan is to start the interview process the week of July 1 and have a new superintendent in place prior to Ledbetter leaving the position at the end of August.
Zooming in
During his superintendent’s report, Ledbetter wanted to address concerns about teachers quitting the profession and where he and his staff stood in terms of hiring new teachers for the upcoming school year.
He said there are currently nine open teaching positions in the district, with four of those for special education teachers.
“That’s much further along than where we’ve been [at this point] in the past two or three years in terms of hiring,” Ledbetter said.
From a paraprofessional standpoint, Ledbetter said there are 12 openings across the district for paraprofessionals in the special education department. He added that last year at this time, there were 29.
In terms of teachers leaving the district, Ledbetter said 78 made the decision to leave at the end of the 2023-24 school year, which compares to 112 last year at the same time.
“Numbers wise, we’re doing much better than we did last year, so I feel like we’re moving in the right direction,” Ledbetter said.
A closer look
Of the 78 teachers that left, Ledbetter broke down the reasons why they left:
- 27% left to pursue a non-educational career, to stay home with family or for health reasons
- 26% retired
- 26% moved
- 3% left because they were dissatisfied with the district
- 8% left to take educational or administrative roles in other districts
