McHenry Times

The Community High School District 155 Board of Education recently assessed some of its staffing for the next school year.

“We just approved eight certified staff members,” Superintendent Steve Olsen said at the March 21 board meeting. “The principals, along with Jay (Sargeant, assistant superintendent of human resources) have done a tremendous job of finding people, getting them under contract in a time and era where there is a teaching shortage going on. So getting out and getting it done as early as we've been able to do it is a tremendous accomplishment moving forward.”

At the meeting, Sargeant gave a report on certain staffing levels and asked the board to approve numerous changes for the 2023-24 school year. While some of these changes were based off of the students’ course selections for the next school year, it doesn’t necessarily mean an increase or decrease in the number of staff but rather a change in the number of sections which could increase, decrease, or move around a teacher’s course load. 

Sargeant sought and received approval for two areas of reductions for the upcoming school year. The first pertained to an issue in the automotive department at Cary Grove where there was no student interest in the class for the next year, which meant the district would be reducing its part-time instructor to no classes, giving him an honorable dismissal. Sargeant told the board the instructor was likely already receiving offers from other districts as he was an excellent instructor. The second area was reduction of hours, where one science teacher and one art teacher would go from full-time to part-time based on a decrease in class sections.

The district also approved some other routine staffing changes, including some resignations and hirings of extra curricular and coaching staff across the district. The board later went into executive session to discuss and ultimately approve principal contracts for both Cary Grove High School and Crystal Lake South High School. The new contracts with the school principals are both effective July 1.