Union Middle School students may see a few new faces in the halls come September after the Board of Trustees approved hiring two new staff members last Monday.
At the recommendation of Superintendent Tyler Hansford, the board approved advertising for a middle school counselor/interventionist and an additional special education teacher.
Hansford said the middle school has been without a counselor for two years. It is time to fill that position, he said.
“I think it’s one we need,” he said.
Superintendent Tyler Hansford said the middle school is one of his top priorities for the coming school year after a recent meeting with other Mississippi educators caused him to see the transitioning students in a new light.
“Sixty-eight percent of growth comes from the middle school,” he said.
Hansford said his ideal candidate for a counselor would be someone with a proven track record of helping students grow academically. The main focus for the employee, would be bolstering the bottom performing 25-percent of students to get them back at grade level.
“The focus is really on intervention,” he said.
However, he said he would also like someone who is, or is willing to work towards becoming a certified counselor within three years.
And, Hansford said, the salary for a middle school counselor was never taken out of the payroll budget, so hiring one would not cost the district anything it hadn’t budgeted for.
While the middle school needs a counselor, the district as a whole needs another special education (SPED) teacher. Hansford said Mississippi Department of Education gave the district its SPED allocation for the 2019-2020 school year, which says how many SPED teachers the district should have based on the population of students with special learning needs.
“We were allocated 17.03 units,” he said. “Right now, we have 13.04.”
Operating at about 75-percent of MDE recommended SPED teachers not only takes away opportunities from students, it can also get hurt the districts standing with the state, Hansford explained.
“We do need it,” he said.
Additionally, Hansford said he would likely be asking the board for a second new SPED teacher at the April board meeting, which would bring the district up to about 90-percent of what MDE recommended.
Hiring new teachers is expensive, however Hansford said the district can afford it. Currently, he said, UPSD is on track to finish the fiscal year with a surplus of about $300,000, which is more than enough to cover salaries for all three positions.
Still, Trustee Jeremey Hamm cautioned against creating too many new positions. The district may have a surplus this year, but that doesn’t guarantee it will have a surplus next year, too.
“We’re adding reoccurring costs,” he said. “Let’s just be careful with what we do.”
