Union Public School District Trustees held a special called meeting last Wednesday to fill five vacancies for the 2019-20 school year.
Superintendent Tyler Hansford said he wanted to make sure the district moved quickly as many of the potential hires were contracted with other districts and would need to give advance notice.
“We had some folks we would like to hire, but they have contracts,” he said. “We wanted to get them approved so they could resign.”
The Board of Trustees approved Hansford’s recommendation to hire:
● Josh Hayes, who will teach history courses and work as an assistant coach for the Union Yellowjackets Baseball team.
“He comes to us from Leake County, where he’s the head coach,” Hansford said.
● Jerica Hickmon, who will teach a new special education (SPED) class at Union Middle School. The board approved the addition of the new class at their April board meeting.
●Natalie Lyles, who will teach self-contained special education. Hansford said Lyles is currently working at Lake School District and has a background in communication disorders. A large portion of UPSD’s students with learning disabilities suffer from communication disorders, so her experience was welcome news to the board.
●Hailey Vowell, who will teach kindergarten.
“She comes to us highly recommended from the Philadelphia School District,” Hansford said.
●Jackie Moore, who will work as an assistant teacher in kindergarten. Hansford said Moore has already been serving at UPSD as a substitute, and the staff is eager to welcome her as a colleague.
Additionally, Hansford requested the board approve creating a part-time summer position for a prospective assistant SPED teacher for the 2019-20 school year. The candidate, he said, needs to find employment before her COBRA runs out. COBRA is a supplemental medical insurance plan that allows Mississippians to stay on their employer’s health insurance after they leave a job.
The part time position, Hansford explained, would allow the candidate to come to UPSD immediately and receive medical benefits.
Hansford said the candidate is highly qualified and, in his opinion, would stay with the district for years. However, he said, she does have another job offer on the table. While the candidate would prefer to come to Union, she needed to make a decision quickly.
“She said she’s willing to work minimum wage over the summer to get by,” he said. “She just needs benefits.”
Hansford said the cost of hiring her for the summer would be around $2,000.
The board agreed bringing a highly qualified SPED assistant to the district would be a benefit to the students and commended the candidate’s willingness to work. They said they did not have any problems creating the part-time position, as it would also be a big help to the district’s staff. However, before approval could be made, the board said they needed to have precise figures for salary and benefits.
Hansford said he would tell the candidate they could move forward and would present solid numbers to the board at their May meeting.
