I couldn’t help but notice that the board agenda just now is mentioning critical shortage. I can only imagine how much unnecessary prodding it took to get Horrible Hope Blinco to start that process. I certainly know in the past, she was absolutely against such a maneuver, leaving schools critically short staffed.

The reality is that there is a national teacher shortage. Going along assuming obscenely terrible pay with a small bonus is enough to lure teachers here will always fall short. Getting teachers here requires action outside of the box. If the Interim Superintendent allows Horrible Hope Blinco and Dirty Diane Rodriguez to continue their tradition of having absolute contempt for the education, the schools will continue to sink.

There are a number of things that could be done today that would at least make Hawthorne more appealing. Notably, they could start new teachers at Step 6 and freeze them until got to year 7. That would make the pay highly competitive, but cost the district almost nothing. They could keep a moving a stipend, and just eliminate the cash payment portion of the payment as an offset.

I also notice that there is no marketing material to really speak of. What little is available lacks focus and branding. The material all points them to a website that is broken at best. There is nothing about the site that inspires anyone. It just gives a glimpse that the district is a mess. By far, the HR portion of the page is the worst.

The district could should also look at retention incentives that are worth looking forward to. Horrible Hope Blinco and Dirty Diane Rodriguez fight nonstop about offering things like subsidies to teachers that complete 25 years of service on health insurance. The cost of subsidizing the insurance until they reach Medicare age is completely predictable. It’s also obtainable when don’t have Diane shoving hundreds in her purse relentlessly.