KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The North Kansas City School District is keeping up with its staffing needs at a time when other school districts are cutting bus routes or changing traditional school schedules to make up for lost workers.
"We've been very fortunate," said Dawn Smith, the district's executive director of Human Resources.
Fortunate may be one word, but strategic might be as accurate.
Smith says the district kept its workers with competitive pay and benefits and only lost staff to retirement.
"We continue to always have challenges, but with those challenges we try to be more proactive versus reactive," she said.
Take school bus drivers for example.
The district said it stayed competitive and proactive about filling those positions and made sure they were filled at a time when many other districts still need school bus drivers.
"We're doing well with our vacancies, we have room for improvement," Smith said.
She says 121 more staff members are needed in areas that have been challenging to fill.
"Focused on bus drivers, food and nutritional service, paraprofessionals, clerks, custodians, as well as school-aged childcare," Smith said.
The district is holding its first "Walk-In Wednesday" event this week to help hire staff for the rest of this year and next school year.
"We maintain our current status by being creative, thinking outside of the box and holding these hiring events," Smith said.
Dates for classified "Walk-In Wednesday" hiring are:
- Wed. Jan. 18 - 8:00 am
- Wed. Feb. 8 - 2:00 pm
- Wed. Feb. 22 - 8:30 am
- Wed. March 8 - 2:00 pm
- Wed. March 29 - 8:30 am
