Q&A: Staffing Plan for 2024-25 School Year
Below are some frequently asked questions regarding staffing plans for the upcoming school year in District 97. The page includes information about the annual staffing process, as well as questions specific to the 2024-25 school year.
Please note that the answers to some of these questions are complex, and while we did our best to address them, we know that there might be additional questions. We will continue to update this page as needed. The community can reach out to our team at any time via Let's Talk.
School staffing is an annual process undertaken by all school districts, including District 97. The district’s original plan for 2024-25 staffing included changes in two main categories:
- Classroom section positions - classrooms in which a group of students is assigned to a teacher (e.g instructional classrooms, specials classrooms, etc.).
- Out-of-classroom positions - non-classroom positions in which teachers may work with small groups of students (e.g., student support specialists, interventionists) or may be in a role in which they work to support teacher practice and/or instructional systems (e.g. instructional coach, curriculum coordinators).
*NOTE: Effective May 4, 2024, the out-of-classroom position plan has been pulled back due to the need for more alignment between central office and across schools in order to ensure effective communication. Click here if you would like to learn more about what was previously planned. >>
On May 4, 2024, District 97 announced that it would be pulling back on key changes that were originally proposed for 2024-25. This means that:
- Out-of-classroom positions will remain the same in 2024-2025 as they are in 2023-2024.
- The proposed new teacher leadership opportunities for 2024-2025 will not be available and are no longer posted.
The only changes being made for 2024-25 staffing are to classroom sections, which is an annual process that occurs in all public school districts. These changes may look different in each of our buildings, depending on factors such as student enrollment projections.
Determining classroom section staffing needs is an annual process undertaken by all school districts including District 97. The annual staffing process ensures that financial resources—in the form of staff salaries—are invested based on enrollment data. In District 97, however, we had not been making annual staffing adjustments based on enrollments and were rolling over the same staff regardless of enrollment projections. This has resulted in fiscal inefficiencies.
No. Below are the district's current section projections for elementary schools. These numbers have been updated from our March 2024 and April 2024 presentations based on recent adjustments to section numbers due to increased enrollment between December 2023 and April 2024.
| 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
|---|---|---|
| GRADES K-2 | 19 | 20 |
| GRADES 3-5 | 20 | 20 |
In our middle schools, as of May 2024, the average section size is expected to remain the same. There may be variability in actual class sizes at the middle schools due to electives and scheduling/program needs.
There may be differences in section sizes across and within schools due to varying overall enrollment and special populations (e.g. students with IEPs) in each grade-level at each school. However, all general education classrooms are planned to stay below the thresholds requiring instructional teacher assistants, as outlined in our agreement with the Oak Park Teachers’ Association (OPTA) collective bargaining agreement.
We also want to note that, as of May 2024, we anticipate fewer elementary classrooms with 24 students in SY25 than we had during SY24.
No, based on current projections, we anticipate increasing special education teachers and related service providers to meet the needs of our students. Special education services vary from year to year based on student enrollment and Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team determinations.
We are not currently projecting the need to hire additional general education TAs. We will continue to monitor our section numbers closely and work collaboratively with principals to determine school-specific needs.
Historically, the administration has presented staffing plans for the upcoming school year each spring. This year, information was presented on March 19, 2024, and April 23, 2024.
District 97 staff received email commmunication on May 1, 2024, and the district planned to send additional communication to all staff and families on May 3, 2024.
The board sets policy and hires a superintendent to accomplish district goals. Guided by the goals, district administrators work together with principals to create actionable plans to achieve those goals.
As in the past, the number of elementary classroom sections is determined based on each school’s projected enrollment. We also consider factors such as special programs that may be housed at the school site and physical space restrictions. Class size parameters are negotiated under the collective bargaining agreement with the Oak Park Teachers’ Association (OPTA).
There are legal requirements that impact the staffing process, such as a 70:30 ratio of general education to special education student requirements. In some cases, physical space limitations may also impact our decisions.
General education section sizes for Grades 1-8 at a given school are based on current enrollment levels at Grades K-7 at the same school. Grade 6 enrollment for each middle school is based on Grade 5 enrollment from the respective feeder elementary schools.
There are two grade level exceptions to note:
- Because the district historically observes increased enrollment levels when a cohort moves into first grade, we estimate Grade 1 enrollment by averaging current enrollment at each school in Grades 1-3, except when current kindergarten enrollment is higher than the average for Grades 1-3.
- Kindergarten estimates are taken from a report compiled by consulting demographer, John Kasarda. The district also takes into account the extent to which the methodology in the Kasarda report resulted in over-estimates of kindergarten enrollment at specific schools in the prior year.
The district watches registration levels throughout the summer to ensure that staffing levels planned in the spring are appropriate given any net changes due to new students.
Changes in enrollment, fiscal considerations, student distribution, instructional requirements, resignations of other teachers, or similar reasons occurring after the end of the school year may require reassignment of tenured staff to other positions and/or buildings. It is important to all of us that teachers understand the reasons for such reassignment. When such a change is necessary, information will be shared with teachers in writing as soon as reasonably possible.
All teachers will receive their assignments for the following school year in writing by May 30 of every school year.
We recognize that school staffing is complex and that enrollment numbers are fluid. That’s why we monitor our data in real time throughout the spring and summer.
No, this is inaccurate. It is true that some staff may be assigned to different roles next year, but those staff members will be assigned to a position in the district. The central goal of any staffing changes is to ensure that resources are used to meet the needs of students and to achieve the vision of our community’s equity policy.
No. Below are the district's current section projections based on recent adjustments to section numbers due to increased enrollment between December 2023 and April 2024.
| 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
|---|---|---|
| GRADES K-2 | 19 | 20 |
| GRADES 3-5 | 20 | 20 |
In our middle schools, as of May 2024, the average section size is expected to remain the same. There may be variability in actual class sizes at the middle schools due to electives and scheduling/program needs.
There may be differences in section sizes across and within schools due to varying overall enrollment and special populations (e.g. students with IEPs) in each grade-level at each school. However, all general education classrooms are planned to stay below the thresholds requiring instructional teacher assistants, as outlined in our agreement with the Oak Park Teachers’ Association (OPTA) collective bargaining agreement.
We also want to note that, as of May 2024, we anticipate fewer elementary classrooms with 24 students in SY25 than we had during SY24.
No. The new out-of-classroom “coordinator” positions that were originally planned—and have since been pulled back—were teacher positions, not administrator positions. Since they work with a broader school and district lens, being in a coordinator role can be a great pathway to having a systems view of public education. Teachers who are interested in coordinator opportunities may be professionals who aspire to future administrator roles, but that is not necessarily the case.
We believe that effective service to students requires different kinds of teacher positions. It is true that classroom teachers work directly with students for most of the day and have a significant impact on student achievement and experience. It is also true that the work of school and district improvement is complex and requires thoughtful planning, coaching and continuous improvement of factors that directly impact the classroom. That systems change effort will be more effective when administrators and teacher leaders are engaged in it together. For example:
- Systemic work to ensure our curriculum resources line-up with student learning standards is partly done by out-of-classroom teachers who work alongside administrators to guide this alignment process.
- At the middle school level, we originally planned new coordinator positions focused on different areas of holistic academic and career development content (see the table below). These content-expert teacher leaders would have worked alongside middle school teachers in their classrooms and during team meetings to make sure the needs of students and their classroom teachers are reflected in the broader middle school redesign effort.
The district does not rely on birth rate data to project enrollment or staffing needs. Enrollment projections for Grade 1-8 are based on actual enrollment in the current year. More detailed information about the methodology used to project enrollment can be found in the appendix of the referenced board presentations. Birth rate, population decline, and non-public school decisions data are included in the presentation to offer context for understanding possible reasons for declines in enrollment. The table shared in the Board presentation includes the most recent birth rate data available from the Cook County data catalog as of the writing of the presentation.