News Release
San Diego Unified and Educators to Address Labor Shortage, Retain and Attract New Staff
June 14, 2022
The San Diego Unified School District will strengthen efforts to recruit and retain educators for hard-to-staff positions under an agreement with the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) that helps address a labor shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
San Diego Unified will offer $10,000 hiring incentives for special education and school nursing positions filled, under the tentative agreement with SDEA pending ratification by both parties. The proposal also seeks to help schools prevent further learning loss while students continue to recover from the pandemic.
“Together, we have reached an agreement that allows our schools to better support our students who are still recovering from the effects of the pandemic,” said Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, president of the San Diego Unified Board of Education. “This agreement allows us to recruit and retain the best and brightest to work at our schools while also recognizing the incredible work that our educators continue to do under difficult circumstances.”
The Memorandum of Understanding was reached in the spirit of:
· Mitigating the impacts of staffing shortages on employees, students, and school communities, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic
· Offering incentive hiring/transfers into hard-to-staff positions in special education and nursing
· Attracting and retaining employees to help prevent further learning loss
· Acknowledging the continued additional duties of staff related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This agreement recognizes the hard work and commitment of educators as we continue to navigate challenging times together. It also strives to positively impact our students by helping retain and recruit in critically needed areas like special education and school nursing,” said Kyle Weinberg, vice president of SDEA.
The proposal includes transfer and hiring incentives in special education and nursing, areas that have been hard hit by the labor shortage. Current educators who hold both a general education and special education credential and who transfer from a general education to a special education assignment from May to November 2022 will receive a $10,000 incentive. New employees hired into a special education or nursing assignment for the 2022-23 school year will receive a $10,000 incentive, under the agreement.
Additionally, employees in active paid status will receive 4.5 percent of their annual base salary to be paid in ten equal installments during the 2022-2023 school year.
The district labor relations team will continue to work with all of the other unions to engage in bargaining for any hard-to-staff positions within their respective units.
San Diego Unified will hold a job fair on June 24 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at district headquarters, 4100 Normal St. The event will offer in-person job interviews for positions throughout the district - from transportation and teaching to clerical and food services. To view open positions, visit www.sandi.net/jobs..
MEDIA CONTACT: Communications Director Maureen Magee, mmagee@sandi.net
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