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Human
Resources Management (Staffing your school)
What the Law Says
 A charter school must employ or contract with necessary teachers,
as defined by section 122A.15, subdivision 1, who hold valid licenses
to perform the particular service for which they are employed in the school.
The charter school's state aid may be reduced under section 127A.42 if
the school employees a teacher who is not appropriately licensed or approved
by the board of teaching. The school may employ necessary employees who
are not required to hold teaching licenses to perform duties other than
teaching and may contract for other services. The school may discharge
teachers and non-licensed employees. A person, without holding a valid
administrator's license, may perform administrative, supervisory, or instructional
leadership duties. - Minn. Statues 124D.10, subd. 11.
Human Resources management is a critical element to starting and operating
a successful charter school. A charter school needs a strong director.
It also needs talented, dedicated teachers, and a competent business staff.
Human resources management is the process through which you attract, train,
motivate, evaluate, compensate and retain these important people.
Employment law is complicated and mistakes can be extremely costly.
For example, the average jury award in a wrongful termination suit is
$700,000. The average cost for litigating an EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission) claim is $162,000. Fifty-five percent of employment claims
result in money awards to employees.
Obviously, it is important for you to build and judiciously maintain
a human resource management system that meets the requirements of the
law. At the same time, your HR practices, at their heart, must be based
on a commitment to fair and just treatment of staff. Good HR practices
should help you create a work environment that supports your mission and
encourages employees to develop and thrive.
Following is a guide to effective human resources practice. It is only
a guide, and is not meant to replace competent professional advice. Your
HR practices should include consultation with professionals, including
experienced administrators and an attorney specializing in employment
law. Advice should be sought not only during your start-up phase, but
also as part of an annual policy review and revision process.
Board Responsibilities
The Board is responsible for setting policy in areas related
to human resources management, including policies governing salaries and
salary schedules, terms and conditions of employment, fringe benefits,
leave, and in-service training. In most schools, the Board hires the Director
and delegates to that person the tasks of recruiting, hiring, evaluating,
promoting, and disciplining staff (in accordance with established board
policy).
Position Descriptions
Accurate position descriptions are the backbone of a good HR system. A
well-written position description clarifies the responsibilities of a
job, and the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience for successful
job performance. This information should be the basis for all recruitment,
hiring, training, performance appraisal, and disciplinary decisions. Good
human resource management decisions are "job related."
To develop an effective position description, start by thinking about
the critical responsibilities of the job. What does this person need to
do? How often does he/she need to do these things (daily, weekly, monthly,
as necessary)? Do the tasks involve working with students, other staff,
parents, or community members? How will you know that the job is being
done well?
Next, think about the education, skills, and experiences necessary for
successful performance of these critical responsibilities. This may, for
example, include a relevant bachelor's degree, subject area licensure,
knowledge of the UFARS accounting system, or fluency in a foreign language.
Finally, think about the education, skills, and experiences that would
be helpful but are not necessary critical to successful job performance.
This might include additional years of teaching experience, a master's
degree, or experience working in a charter school.
Other information that you may want to include on the position description
includes:
- A brief description/history of the organization
- Percentage and length of appointment - for example, "This is a full-time,
12-month position."
- Supervision (Who supervises this position?)
There are a number of different formats that can be used to organize
and present this information. Examples of several position descriptions
can be found in the appendix.
Important things to remember about position descriptions:
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Position descriptions should be viewed as "living documents." In
other words, to be effective, they need to be continually updated.
At a minimum, review and revision should be done annually, as a standard
part of the employee evaluation process. In this way, all position
descriptions remain current, and employees are reminded that their
job responsibilities can be changed.
- Individual position descriptions within an organization should fit
together like a mosaic, creating a complete picture of staffing needs.
Every critical task associated with operating your school should appear
on at least one person's position description.
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Recruitment and Hiring
Hiring decisions are perhaps the most important decisions made by a school.
Personnel costs are likely to claim the largest share or your budget.
Accomplishing your mission is dependent on having the right staff. For
these reasons, it is essential to include someone that has experience
in making personnel decisions in the hiring process. You will most likely
want to have a hiring committee of three or more people, to insure input
from multiple stakeholders. Your committee might include, for example,
the Director, teacher(s), parent(s), and student(s).
Timing is important. If at all possible, the hiring process should be
designed to ensure that staff is identified no later than June. Earlier
is preferable. Where budgets allow, new schools should consider hiring
staff several weeks before the school actually opens, allowing them adequate
time to prepare. To accomplish this, the hiring process should begin in
January.
The basic steps involved in an effective recruitment and hiring process
are:
1. Develop the position description
2. Post and/or advertise the position
3. Receive and screen applications
4. Interview applicants
5. Check references
6. Make a hiring decision
7. Establish an employment contract
Develop a position description
An accurate, well-written job description forms the basis for the subsequent
steps in the process. The position description helps you clarify the job
skills, knowledge and experience that you hope to find in a new employee.
Post and/or advertise the position
Once you have an accurate position description, the actual search begins.
This stage begs for creativity. Think about where and how you might find
applicants with the desired skills, knowledge and experience. Also, think
about how many applications you hope to receive. If you believe that the
number of available candidates is low and/or you would like to receive
a large number of applications, you may want to use several posting and
advertising venues. Some possibilities are:
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The most obvious and overused is the major, local newspaper. You
may want to place an ad in the classified section of one or more major
newspaper. Newspaper advertisements tend to be very expensive, so
you will want to write the shortest possible advertisement that still
contains enough information and is sufficiently appealing to attract
promising applicants. Sunday is the best day to advertise in most
major newspapers. It seldom makes sense to run an advertisement for
an entire week.
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Ethnic, neighborhood, and specialty newspapers - In larger communities,
there may be a number of small newspapers. Some specifically target
ethnic groups and can be good places to advertise in hopes of attracting
a diverse pool of applicants. Finding these smaller newspapers can
be as simple as visiting your local library, a coffee shop, or bank
lobby where there are racks of free periodicals. Be aware, however,
that the advertisement will not be free.
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Websites tend to be the easiest, cheapest, quickest and, increasingly,
the most effective way to recruit. By all means, post the position
on your own website, if you have one. Other sites to consider include:
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The Minnesota Association
of Charter Schools
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Colleges - Alumni as well as new graduates use college websites
when searching for jobs. In most cases, the best place to start
when you want to post a position is with the college's career
office. Usually, you can find contact information for this office
and posting instructions on the college website. You may also
want to contact the college's Education Department and specific,
relevant disciplinary departments (e.g. math or biology). In some
cases, education and disciplinary departments have separate websites
that include job postings. Some colleges also have specialized
training programs in special education and Limited English Proficiency.
If your school has specific need in areas such as these, it is
worthwhile to send postings to specialized programs in and outside
of Minnesota.
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www.teacher.com
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Minnesota School Board Association
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Minnesota Association of School
Administrators
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Job fairs - the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools holds an
annual job fair and may be able to direct you to other job fairs in
your area.
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Word of mouth and personal contacts - Email the posting to your professional
contacts and ask them to share it with their contacts.
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From your applicant file - Schools often receive unsolicited resumes.
These should be saved for possible future openings. Call the qualified
individuals or write them a brief email or letter, attaching a copy
of the posting, and invite them to apply.
Email postings are often simply shortened versions of the position description,
with additional information about application deadlines, desired application
materials (resume, letter of intent, references, writing samples, etc),
and the application process (email, fax, and/or regular mail). Newspaper
advertisements should be much shorter, including only enough information
to attract promising candidates. Both should include an EEO statement
"(_____ charter school is an equal opportunity educator and employer.)"
A sample posting and advertisement is included in the appendix.
Receive and screen applications
It makes good business sense to acknowledge receipt of applications, either
in a brief email or letter to each candidate. This practice communicates
a level of professionalism that can help build a reputation for the school
that may be helpful in attracting quality applicants in the future.
Your hiring committee should design a screening tool to be used to decide
which candidates will be invited for an interview. At a minimum, the screening
criteria should include the essential knowledge, skills and experience
listed on the job description. Desired knowledge, skills and experience
may also be used. Criteria can be prioritized and weighted. A sample-screening
tool is included in the appendix.
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Interviews
Once you have selected applicants to interview, prepare a list of interview
questions that will help you get the information you need from candidates.
The most effective questions are open-ended and related to past job performance.
Open-ended questions encourage applicants to talk, providing you with
more information about their knowledge, skills, attitude toward learning,
and other important qualifications. Listening to the candidates, you should
be able to get an idea about their potential fit with the school culture.
Will they work hard? Will they support your pedagogical strategies? Are
they team players? Questions about past job performance are important
because the best indicator of how an applicant will perform at your school
is how they have actually performed in other settings. For example, you
might ask - "Please describe for us the most successful things you have
done with students and why you think they were successful."
A list of other possible interview questions is included in the appendix.
Federal, state and local civil rights laws prohibit questions related
to protected classes. The following are protected classes:
- Race/color/nationality/ethnicity
- Gender
- Religion
- Age
- Disability
- Marital status
- Political affiliation
- Sexual orientation
You may want to do two interviews, an initial screening interview and
a later, more in-depth interview. You might decide, for example, to use
a committee for initial interviews and have the director or a lead teacher
do a second interview with finalists. Use the same general questions with
all applicants. This doesn't mean that questions need to be asked verbatim,
or that adlib follow-up questions are necessarily improper. Effective
interviews need to be somewhat flexible
If at all possible, you will want to see a teacher candidate in action
before making a final hiring decision. If an applicant is currently teaching
in another school or student teaching, find out if someone from your committee
can visit his/her classroom and observe. If your school is already open,
you may want to invite the most promising candidates to guest-teach for
a small portion of the day.
Check references and credentials
Always check references. Reference checking can be done at any
stage in the hiring process. You might, for example, want to check references
before actually interviewing a candidate. This can be particularly wise
if the candidate is from another state. You may want to check references
between first and second interviews, or before inviting a candidate to
guest-teach. Get permission from applicants to check references.
Reference questions should be job related and consistently applied. As
with interview questions, the best reference questions are open-ended
and related to actual job performance. For example, you might ask: " Can
you give me an example of something particularly creative that Mary has
done with her class?" Obviously, you will want to talk with references
that have actual first-hand knowledge of the applicant's job performance.
Always verify necessary professional licensure before making an offer.
Criminal background checks must also be completed before actual hiring.
Applicants should be told that their employment is contingent upon the
outcome of background checks and must sign a consent form. Background
checks are done through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. A description
of the process and sample consent form is available on their website at
http://www.dps.state.mn.us/bca/Forms/Documents/Form-Intro.html.
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The hiring decision
The entire hiring committee or a single person, most likely the Director,
must take responsibility for the hiring decision, choosing the candidate
who most closely meets the requirements of the job. If it is a committee
decision, you may want to have committee members make written recommendations.
What records do you need to keep?
Applications, interview notes, postings and advertisements and other supporting
documentation should be retained for one year after the hiring decision
is made.
The employment contract
When you are ready to make a job offer, you will need to have a contract
ready for signature. A contract does not need to take any special form
in order to be binding. Often, it is designed as an "offer letter" that
includes the position title, salary, days of work, benefits, leave policy,
and other pertinent employment information. An example of a contract can
be found in the appendix.
Most charter schools are "at-will" employers. This means that employment
is based on mutual consent between the school and the employee. Either
party has the right to terminate the employment relationship at any time,
with or without cause or advance notice. An employee can walk away from
a contract any time, for any reason. The school can do the same. This
can be important in cases where a school does not meet enrollment projections
and must make the painful decision to cut staff positions. Also, it provides
flexibility to remove a problem employee.
A prospective employee may be concerned about signing a contract that
would allow their employer to terminate them for "any reason." You should
be open to discussing these concerns. Often, it is helpful to talk about
your commitment to open communication. Employees should be assured that
there would never be "surprises." Budget and performance concerns would
be discussed with they as they occur, and that there would always be opportunity
for feedback.
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Orientation and Induction
Every new employee should be given a copy of their position description
and a staff handbook that contains board policies related to their employment.
Employees should sign a form indicating that they have received and read
the policies. A sample form is included in the appendix.
You will also need to have new employees complete forms necessary for
payroll (W-4), Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9), retirement
benefits (PERA and TRA), and other employee benefits specific to your
school.
All U.S. employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 (Employment
Eligibility Verification) for each employee. This includes citizens and
non-citizens. On the form, the employer must verify employment eligibility
and the identity documents presented by the employee. Information about
the I-9 and the necessary forms are available at http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-9.htm
W-4 forms are available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf
Orientation is also a good time to talk about the employee performance
appraisal system and to give new employees a copy of the annual evaluation
tool that will be used.
Additional Resources
Personnel Policies and Practices: Understanding Employment Law By William
P. Bethke and James Griffin Available at http://www.uscharterschools.org/gb/personnel/
Charter Starters: Governance and Management, Leadership Training Workbook
4 (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 1999). Available online
at http://www.nwrel.org/charter/Workbook/cs_workbook4.pdf.
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