As one school year is in the process of wrapping up, Haverhill school administrators are already preparing for the next one by recruiting staff in various areas to help students catch up after the pandemic.
Haverhill School Superintendent Margaret Marotta, a recent guest on WHAV’s morning program, said the school budget includes a $7.6 million one-time payment from the federal government. Her plan calls for hiring an additional 70 employees to help students following a year of COVID-19-related learning challenges
“We’re also adding a lot of interventionists next year. It’s our hope in the proposed budget to add school adjustment councilors and reading interventionists and tutors and coaches to sort of make up for that learning loss. We have a substantial amount of grant money from the federal government so we will definitely be looking for people, and folks, that maybe out there and haven’t been working, maybe at home, hesitant, but they are ready to go back to work. We’ll have lots of jobs in the fall,” she said.
The $106 million spending plan for the school district also includes money set aside for tuition reimbursement in the recently approved contract with educational support professionals who choose to further their education.
“We really want to encourage that. That’s the way to get people in our community to invest in the school system and to join us long term, so I was really glad to get tuition reimbursement in that contract. We got it in the teachers’ contract last time and now we have it in the ESP contract, so it gives us a nice pipeline. We are always looking to increase the diversity in our schools too, and we have this beautiful diverse town, why wouldn’t we support the people who live in joining our school system?” Marotta asked.