Question 1) In light of recent events, what steps would you take to ensure the safety of students and staff within the schools?
Answer - The Hamilton County School District just recently had a perpetrator post a social media threat targeting five of our students. Through the investigative work of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department Chief Investigators and school personnel, the person was identified within just a few hours. Leading up to the identification of the person, several strategies were implemented with the desired result of said identification. Our students and our families utilized the FortiflyFl app to send known information. The District School Safety Specialist utilized Parent Square, the district’s communication app, and the schools’ Facebook platforms to encourage information to be called into my personal cell phone. The school campuses were put on Heightened Security status, for which the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department supported with teams of officers on-site for the school day.
Daily, the Hamilton County School District provides a safe and secure campus with a security team comprised of an extensively trained District School Safety Specialist, a professionally trained District School Guardian, a professionally trained District Security Gate Attendant, two full-time Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department School Resource Officers, and several professionally trained and armed School Guardians on location at both schools.
The Hamilton County School District and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department take the safety and well-being of our children and our personnel very seriously!
Question 2) What strategies do you plan on implementing to attract and retain high-quality teachers who will stay long term?
Answer - The Hamilton County School District has implemented several strategies to attract and retain high-quality instructional personnel and non-instructional personnel. The goal is for our students to be served by the most impactful team of educators in order to provide our students with pathways that will lead to their successful advancement to secondary education whether it is academic college or technical college, employment in the workforce, or enlistment in the military service.
The two most successful strategies Hamilton County has implemented are free daycare for personnel only and several retention and recruitment incentive pays. Both strategies have been funded through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, better known as ESSER funds. The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund was established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020. The CARES Act provided direct funding to state education agencies (SEA) and local education agencies (LEA) to address the impact COVID-19 has had, and in certain contexts continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools.
The free daycare for personnel has been a wonderful cost-saving benefit for our young families. Aside from the staff sharing their appreciation for having this free benefit, the most often comment is, “It is so nice and convenient to have my child on the same campus.” The program has allowed the schools to retain several staff as COVID-19 forced several of local day care programs to close. For recruitment purposes, potential job candidates are amazed that they will not have to pay for day care costs.
The second strategy of incentive pay was designed after discussions on how to use the ESSER funds. School districts across Florida were discouraged from using the funds for recurring costs as the funding would expire within three years (September 2024). We did not want to put the funding into recurring salaries as our general budget would not support that type of increase yet, we definitely wanted to help our staff with the financial impact with the aftermath of COVID-19 and hurricane recoveries. So, Hamilton County decided to enhance staff’s income with incentive supplemental pay. If a staff member has been with the District the entire time since 2021, they have received an average of $6,465 in supplemental pay.
Question 3) What will you do differently to improve unity and morale among board members, teachers, staff and students?
Answer - The Board of Education for the Hamilton County School District is a unified and supportive team. Each member of our BOE has a true heart for our students and for our personnel. Since being elected in 2020, my experience with our board members has been ready assistance for any guidance as well as any questions professionally answered. Each board member is available for our school teams when there is a request for support. Frequently, the board members make personal contributions to make sure our students have any necessary need met. Our Hamilton County School Board members are consistent with their decision-making focus by ensuring all decisions are made with the students’ welfare in mind and with an understanding of the value of our dedicated personnel.
Political advertisement paid for and approved by Lee Wetherington-Zamora, Republican, for Hamilton County Superintendent of Schools.