Episode 6 - Return to School Human Resources Planning with Ms. Kyra Bobak

SHOW TOPIC
Return to School Human Resources Planning

SPECIAL GUEST
Ms. Kyra Bobak, Seneca Valley Human Resources Director

Ms. Kyra Bobak has over 20 years of experience in education and has been an administrator in Seneca Valley School District since 2006.
During her work as principal at Haine Elementary, the school received the Olweus Quality Assurance designation in 2011. The school was one of the three schools in the nation to be recognized. During her tenure in this role, she was also elected and served as the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals (PAESSP) West II Regional Representative for the State.
Ms. Bobak is a member of numerous professional associations, and as the Director of Human Resources, she is currently serving as a founding advisory board member for Sprigeo, an online national organization for an anti-bullying system. Her position on the board allows her to share her passion for education and commitment to positive change in schools.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
• Background and numbers of staff
• Challenges presented from risk of exposure
• Financial incentive for substitutes
• Training on Health and Safety Guidelines

USEFUL INFORMATION
www.svsd.net/ReturntoSchool
www.svsd.net/HealthMonitoringRTS
www.svsd.net/HygienePracticesRTS
www.svsd.net/SchoolEnvironmentRTS

Transcript

FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)

Voices E6 Kyra Bobak

File Name: Voices E6 Kyra Bobak.mp3

File Length: 00:12:39

SPEAKERS

Int - Introduction

JK - Jeff Krakoff

KB - Kyra Bobak

00:00:02:24 - 00:00:07:24

Introduction: Welcome to Voices, a Podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District.

00:00:10:12 - 00:00:31:26

Jeff Krakoff: I'm Jeff Krakoff with Kyra Bobak who is director of Human Resources for the Seneca Valley School District. Thanks for joining us, Kyra. I know that you've, in addition to in your past been a teacher, assistant principal, principal, you've been an administrator at the District for about 14 years now.

00:00:31:28 - 00:00:40:09

Jeff Krakoff: So this has to be like a school year like no other. Right. We're deal that we're in the middle of a global pandemic.

00:00:40:11 - 00:00:47:08

Jeff Krakoff: Can we just start with maybe some of the numbers? You know it Seneca Valley is a huge district but just let people know

00:00:48:05 - 00:00:52:17

Jeff Krakoff: what are the numbers when it comes to enrollment, when it comes to staff members?

00:00:52:19 - 00:01:25:21

Kyra Bobak: Yeah, so if I start I'll start maybe with a student piece. Seneca Valley School District currently has a little over 7,000 students enrolled in the District's grades K through 12. That consists across servicing the students in nine buildings. So kind of to break that down and give you a better picture. We have four elementary buildings grades K through four, two buildings that service grades five and six, and then on our secondary campus we have grades seven and eight which is our Ryan Gloyer Middle School.

00:01:25:23 - 00:02:01:09

Kyra Bobak: And then we have the intermediate high school and the high school which services our students 9th through 12. So that comprise like I said K through 12, a little over 7,000 students to get to your question about the make up of our staff. Looking at our total number of employees we have 854. And if you break that down by employee groups and our teacher group which we call our professional group. So that is comprised of our teachers, school counselors, our nurses, our special area teachers.

00:02:01:11 - 00:02:33:21

Kyra Bobak: We have five hundred and sixty four. In our classified employee group which consist of our secretaries, paraprofessionals, cafeteria, maintenance, custodians. We have 233. And then of course we have administrative administrators at each building servicing. You know principal, assistant principal, and then at our central office we have directors, supervisors, our superintendent, assistant superintendent. So that total number comes to 854.

00:02:33:23 - 00:02:53:10

Kyra Bobak: So yes, we are quite large. So during these challenging times as we are rethinking and reinventing our ways and our daily operations, you have to take that number into consideration most certainly to ensure that we are prepared for our daily operations to start the school year.

00:02:53:12 - 00:03:02:28

Jeff Krakoff: OK. Quite a large operation. So I don't know anybody working anywhere that's not at least a little bit concerned about COVID-19.

00:03:03:00 - 00:03:17:10

Jeff Krakoff: So tell me a little bit about some of the challenges and what the district is doing to support staff to help them you know reduce the risk of exposure and the chances of of becoming ill through the school year.

00:03:18:10 - 00:03:48:26

Kyra Bobak: Yes. I, you know, I would definitely agree with you that there is you know uncertainty. You know we we have individuals that are anxious, you know they're apprehensive about returning. That's understandable. I think across whether you know whatever you're doing in your daily life I think we're all concerned. Whether that's going to a grocery store, going to a restaurant, going to whatever you need to do in your in your personal world. Now transfer that into your professional life and those feelings don't change.

00:03:48:28 - 00:04:19:06

Kyra Bobak: And so the administrative team you know, in collaboration with our employee groups, have been working this since since summer to prepare for this return to ensure and put people's minds at ease so that we make people feel safe. Most importantly. So we want to return. That's important for our students. We want to make sure we're educating them. They belong here in our buildings. Our staff belong in these buildings, but people need to feel comfortable and safe.

00:04:19:11 - 00:04:53:22

Kyra Bobak: And so, in order to do that we need to identify and hear from these people hear their voices let them have a voice of why they've been concerned. And that was kind of the process through our back-to-school return task meeting where people had a voice where "OK here are our concerns" here are some possible solutions. And so now we've compiled all those you know we have a health and safety plan that has been board approved by our school board of directors. And so now it's taking all those items of that health and safety plan and really putting them into action.

00:04:53:24 - 00:05:28:24

Kyra Bobak: So how do we keep people safe? Well we start with educating them about self-monitoring. Know your own personal health. Taking your temperature daily. You know being in tune with your body and how you're feeling and being aware of what are the symptoms of COVID-19? And and if you're not feeling well and you have other symptoms you know, is that a cold, is that possibly the flu, but being more than ever in tune with how we feel physically and then also knowing "OK what can we do to be proactive?"

00:05:28:26 - 00:05:59:23

Kyra Bobak: So educating ourselves on handwashing. Keeping social distancing in the workplace. Using face coverings you know. Knowing the health safety protocols that are put in place by our nurses. What will we do to respond to students if they're not feeling well and how have those processes changed moving into the school year because they have changed. So you know trying to make sure that we're doing our best to stay on top of it and educate. Keep the social distance.

00:05:59:25 - 00:06:41:07

Kyra Bobak: Make sure that we're cleaning we're disinfecting and just answering and being there for people so that if they have concerns what can we do for them. And then of course you have adults that have underlying health issues. And so I've had numerous conversations with those employees to say you know what can we do to support you so you can return? Is there anything we can do? And if we can we're going to do our best to do that. But in a safe way. So accommodating, you know, making accommodations for those who have health risks and underlying health issues so that we can have our daily operations and our buildings can be staffed to service our students.

00:06:41:13 - 00:06:47:18

Jeff Krakoff: So great segue talking about staffing to set to help support the students.

00:06:47:24 - 00:07:08:13

Jeff Krakoff: I imagine every school district is going to deal with staff members that either need to self-quarantine for one reason or another,  may become sick. How big of a role do substitutes play this fall? And is there anything in particular we're doing to bolster that?

00:07:08:26 - 00:07:38:29

Kyra Bobak: Yes, it substitutes play a critical role. You know they are very important to our daily operations as in every year. You know, we value those that are interested and willing to serve. That is not an easy job to take on and come into a classroom and fill the shoes of a teacher. So we value them and we are glad that we have those that are interested in joining us this fall. So we already have several that have been board approved more than several.

00:07:39:07 - 00:07:51:27

Kyra Bobak: So we have our account ready to start the school year. But one thing that the district has done to think creatively and outside the box to kind of prepare for the unknown of what we're going to face as everybody returns.

00:07:51:29 - 00:08:19:17

Kyra Bobak: And if we do see high absenteeism within our faculty is that on July 20, the School Board of Directors approved a financial incentive program for permanent day-to-day substitutes at our buildings grades K through 12. So what this looks like is at our elementary we're looking to secure three permanent day-to-day extended substitutes. At our secondary,

00:08:19:19 - 00:09:01:24

Kyra Bobak: it would be five, due to their size of the building and these individuals would work in our buildings for the first 30 days of school consecutively. And if they could commit to that and be in our buildings for 30 days then on day 31 the School Board of Directors would have approved to give them a $300 dollar bonus. And so the idea behind this thinking is that if we have individuals they're out and you know they put that absence in our online reporting system and the assignment was not picked up by an individual, then we have kind of this extra layer of support. So that we could take someone that's serving there being there and say "OK can you fill in for this individual for this day."

00:09:01:26 - 00:09:24:01

Jeff Krakoff: All right. Well substitutes are so important and that sounds like a great program. You mentioned before having a health and safety plan for everything from self-monitoring to other things. Will there be any type of training for staff so that they're fully aware of of what they can do and should be doing?

00:09:24:03 - 00:09:55:17

Kyra Bobak: Yes, absolutely. We have several days on our calendar set aside for you know professional development training for our staff. And so this is a critical piece that has been identified. So we do have I mentioned Liz Williams, our nurse administrator developed a training for our teachers for all of our staff so that they are aware of what they need to do. What are the symptoms of COVID-19? How do we self monitor our own health? How do you properly wear a face coverings?

00:09:55:19 - 00:10:33:11

Kyra Bobak: How do you set up your classrooms and how do you maintain that social distancing so that we could keep them safe? In addition, I will note that in addition to our staff receiving this training we talk about the importance of substitutes. And so we don't want to forget about them. So we are offering you know two sessions. So if they are not available these will be via Zoom. They will have the opportunity to log in, receive the training and that's not just you know for those that are serving as our long term substitutes or our day-to-day substitutes who are already been secured for you so to speak long term absences.

00:10:33:13 - 00:11:04:25

Kyra Bobak: But these are individuals that just could come in and work at their their choice when they pick up their assignments. We want to make sure they feel comfortable, they feel comfortable confident reporting we see them as our employees. So they will receive the offering of this training as well. And if they're unable to attend then our plan is to after those two sessions are offered to send that training materials to them via email and they could reference them and they will have the opportunity to follow up with any questions to the school nurses.

00:11:04:27 - 00:11:09:14

Kyra Bobak: If there's something that they don't understand and they need extra clarification.

00:11:10:07 - 00:11:20:20

Jeff Krakoff: All right. So whether I'm a staff member or a parent, member of the community is there a final message you'd like to leave us with.

00:11:20:28 - 00:11:51:14

Kyra Bobak: Well, I I want people to know that we are doing our best and working diligently to have a safe return for all. That is our top priority is that people feel comfortable and know that we put in these extra measures to ensure the safety of not just our students, of our staff, of our visitors, of everybody that comes in contact with our students. You know students, we want them to return but we want them to return safely and want people to feel confident and comfortable.

00:11:51:18 - 00:12:20:17

Kyra Bobak: And so we have worked hard to put together this plan. And we feel confident now that it's time for us to kind of put it into action. And so I think I think we're well-prepared. And so just know that we are here will continue to work and monitor, adjust and pivot as need be. Whatever we need to do to make sure that learning can continue. You know the academics are of importance, the emotional piece, the social piece, but safety is our top priority.

00:12:20:29 - 00:12:28:25

Jeff Krakoff: OK. Kyra Bobak. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us. Good luck as we return to school this fall.

00:12:28:27 - 00:12:30:08

Kyra Bobak: All right well thank you.

00:12:30:10 - 00:12:31:04

Jeff Krakoff: All right take care.

00:12:31:09 - 00:12:32:03

Kyra Bobak: OK. Take care.