The Harrisburg School District board met on Monday.
On Monday, a crowd of Harrisburg School District staff and community members filled the Lincoln Administration Building for a board meeting—something that hasn’t happened in years.
At the first in-person school board meeting since the beginning of the pandemic, district officials and teachers brought up concerns over staffing issues and violence.
At the meeting, district Receiver Dr. Lori Suski officially approved a schedule change that shortens school days at Rowland Academy, a shift that took place on March 7. According to the district, the change resulted from district-wide staffing shortages.
“It’s not something that’s just happening in Harrisburg,” Superintendent Eric Turman said. “We are going to be aggressive in our approach to try to recruit.”
According to Turman, the district is hoping not to have to change schedules for any of its other schools. They are putting additional efforts into recruiting, even out of state, he said.
Additionally, the district recently increased its pay rate for substitute teachers in an effort to attract more educators to its buildings, Turman said.
At Monday night’s meeting, many district teachers attended the meeting, a few stepping to the microphone to raise concerns over staffing shortages and their effects.
“We don’t have enough staff to be able to teach the classes,” said Michele Rolko, a teacher at Harrisburg High School–John Harris campus. “I’m looking at these resignations and I think, yeah I understand. We’ve had so much violence in our schools.”
Rolko explained how incidents of violence and fighting are affecting teachers and students. She believes that, coupled with the effects of the pandemic, teachers are leaving the district.
“This is affecting our mental health, our physical health and our socio-emotional health,” Rolko said. “If we don’t do something now […] then this district is going to implode.”
While Turman said that the district has begun several initiatives to combat violence by addressing mental health issues, finding solutions hasn’t been easy.
“That’s been very challenging for the district—to try to come up with something that’s a solution that’s going to solve the problem,” he said. “We have taken steps to put things in place, but we’re just not to a point where we’ve been able to see a drastic change.”
Solving the staffing shortage issue may prove challenging, as well, as Turman believes that a lack of young people entering the education field will make filling empty positions difficult.
For more information, visit the Harrisburg School District’s website.
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