New hires at Wood County Schools, which included substitute teachers, bus drivers, custodians and aides, spent the day Wednesday getting acclimated to the district, its policies and procedures during their first monthly orientation event. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — Wood County Schools held an orientation for 23 new professional and service employees on Wednesday to help them get acclimated to the district, its policies and procedures.

“The goal is really to familiarize them with the system and how we work, but also make sure that the expectation is clear,” Ashlee Beatty, director of curriculum and instruction, said. “This is a school district that, you know, we’re proud of the work that’s done, and we have high expectations for our full-time staff as well as our substitutes, and this makes sure that they feel comfortable when they step into the school, or the bus, or the kitchen for the first time.”

John Merritt, assistant superintendent of human resources, said participants also had the chance to learn about the district’s systems and operations.

“They’re learning how to navigate the calling system that calls substitutes in, seniority, employment responsibilities, weather delays, and how that all affects them,” Merritt said. “They also met with individual departments, because most of the employees will be doing a shadow day tomorrow… not everyone will do that, because they’ve been out there already. They’ve already maybe subbed two or three times. They don’t need that training, but the majority of people will take that opportunity.”

There was also safety training with the Safe School program, which covers things like mandatory reporting information and employee code of conduct.

“It’s important that when we have people in our schools, they understand the policies that we have in place, practices that we use,” Merritt said.

Beatty said this kind of training was important because of the people the new hires will work for.

“They have the most important customers you could say, which are kids, and it’s a vulnerable population, and it’s our job to keep them safe,” she said. “I think the ultimate goal is that we have the best employees for our kids and that they are the most prepared. And this orientation is just a piece of that, making sure they feel comfortable and ready to go to the schools. That’s our job. To support them to make sure they’re good. So, I think today helped do that.”

Merritt said the district plans to hold orientations every month for new hires and that they are still looking for several key positions within the district, especially male aides. He said the district plans to hold a job fair Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Wood County Caperton Campus, located on the West Virginia University at Parkersburg campus, and that the community is encouraged to come out and see what’s available.

All applications for employment within the district are done online, but Beatty said the district aims to streamline the application process for all by having a wide variety of resources and services available.

“All the departments will be set up and available for questions, and there will be devices there to help you apply on site,” Beatty said.

Merritt stressed the importance of transparency in employment applications saying it was fine to have a past, but to make sure you divulge that.

“One of the biggest problems we’ve had is people write down in their application that they’ve never been arrested, they’ve never been charged, they’ve never had a situation, and then we find out that they do,” Merritt said. “And it’s not that they had a situation that’s the issue. It’s the issue that they didn’t tell us when that question was asked.”

Stephanie Cunningham, teacher certification and licensure administrator, said for those interested in teaching there are two main pathways.

“If you know you only want to sub-teach forever, the sub permit process is quicker and cheaper and will save you in the long run,” Cunningham said. “But if you want to become a certified teacher, the state and Wood County have a whole process for that.”

She said those interested in becoming a certified teacher would have to enroll in one of the WVDE approved programs, complete the coursework for that program, pass the necessary practice examinations for whatever endorsement area they’ve chosen and then the state would issue them a teaching certificate.

“It’s a much quicker pathway than we used to have available,” Cunningham said.

Merritt said there are also service personnel openings that individuals can learn more about at the job fair and that the restrictions for those positions are not as demanding.

“You don’t have to have a degree for most service positions,” Merritt said. “You get paid more if you do. But there’s a set of tests for about every classification, whether it’s custodian, maintenance, handyman, bus operator–all of them have tests, and we set up those tests routinely for them to take.”

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com.