According to Talawanda’s superintendent Ed Theroux, low wages have caused six recent resignations among educational assistants and custodians throughout the district.
The six employees who resigned in September and October were educational assistants, food service workers, office clerks and recess monitors.
The board also accepted the resignation of middle school principal Tim Derickson, who was placed on administrative leave for several days last month as Talawanda human resources director Mike Malone investigated his conduct relating to “a student discipline procedure.”
Derickson, 59, will finish out the school year before parting with the district in May. He was hired by the district during the summer of 2022 to serve as middle school principal at a salary of $98,000 a year. He served as principal at Batavia High School from 2018 to 2022 and was assistant principal there the year prior.
“Derickson violated a student discipline procedure,” district spokesperson Holli Hansel said. “So when the allegation was made, the district was required to investigate.”
“There will not be any discipline issued in this case,” Hansel wrote in an email sent Oct. 10 to announce the conclusion of Derickson’s investigation to Talawanda families.
During the regular board meeting on Oct. 26, Talawanda superintendent Ed Theroux called for the board to consider the implications of the six employees’ resignations. Many who resigned filled similar positions at nearby schools with better pay, he said.
“People come in and think they want the job,” Theroux said, “then they realize how demanding it is when they’re only getting $12. They’re not lasting or they’re moving.”
According to Theroux and the agenda for the board meeting, an educational assistant like a recess monitor at Talawanda would work about three hours per day making $12 per hour.
These wages fall well below the median hourly wage of over $25 for educational assistants in the Cincinnati metropolitan area, according to the Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics. The same data yielded a median hourly wage for the state as a whole at just over $18 per hour.
Theroux said that last year, a Talawanda employee left to fill a similar job at a neighboring district for an $8 per hour wage increase, and a salaried employee left at the end of that year for a $10,000 increase in yearly salary.
Hansel said the district outsourced custodial services for the high school and Kramer Elementary during COVID because they had trouble keeping the custodial jobs filled.
Along with educational assistants and custodians, she said the district has struggled to hire enough substitute teachers and bus drivers. Hansel said many of the district’s substitute teachers were older, retired teachers who quit subbing because they were concerned about the dangers of the virus in schools.
Hansel said teachers and administrators generally cover for absent teachers and educational assistants when a sub isn’t available, but that can take time out of their planning periods for other classes. She also said districts across the state are struggling to fill subbing positions.
“It’s not a new problem,” Hansel said, “but it’s a problem that’s persisting, and we need to come up with a solution.”
At the meeting, district equity and inclusion representatives Wes Cole and Stephanie Jones called for the need to hire more diverse teachers and administrators.
Jones said an increase in diversity among teaching and administrative staff would give students a more inclusive environment to learn.
