Hartford Public Schools pays nearly a million dollars a year for an Office of Talent Management (OTM), led by Dr. Tiffany Curtis (who should be on any new superintendent’s short list for firing), and due to OTM’s inability to adequately staff substitute teachers and para-educators (15% substitute fill rate for the 2022-23 school year), HPS blindly handed out another million dollars for what Board Member Walker called, “a parallel HR department” (but he voted to approve the contract nonetheless). In June of this year, HPS brought in “the nation’s leading provider of full-service substitute personnel,” the Tennessee-based ESS (“HPS’ Substitute for an Effective Talent Management Office”).

Displaying parallel ineffectiveness, ESS’ inability to adequately staff substitutes in one of the 10 schools they are assigned, Global Communications Academy, resulted in that school having to cancel two classes during this school year’s second week of school (per a teacher who wishes to remain anonymous). Hopefully this is an outlier report and the other 9 ESS assigned schools are seeing better results.

However, based on past results, ESS will not be a cure-all for HPS’ substitute and para-educator vacancy issues; even they will not be able to cure the district’s toxic teacher culture and climate created by Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez (who should be on any new mayor’s short list for removal). 

At the end of last school year, both Waterbury schools and Norwalk schools, both ESS clients, reported classes being canceled due to the lack of substitute teachers, with Norwalk stating that 30% of their classroom vacancies are not filled by substitutes.

ESS’ inability to answer data questions at the BOE’s June Regular Meeting, where they won contract approval from the “not ready for prime time” board, also creates doubt as to their future effectiveness and openness concerning their past effectiveness. 

At the meeting, the ESS representative stated that the retention rate (those subs who choose to stay with the school district at the conclusion of their 90-day ESS hire) “very high,” but he didn’t have an actual number to share.  ESS prides itself on hiring local talent (Dr. Curtis gushed over this as being a key to their hiring), and their local hiring rate is” high.”  Again, they had no actual number to show what “high” is.  And, to Board Member Deristel-Leger’s question about the rate of black substitute hires, ESS assured her that their hires represent the community, but we have no actual number to show that representation.  Great. 

As to the local hiring claim, ESS’ recruiting absence from several large Hartford events over the summer (Hartford Jazz Festival, Hartford Food Truck Festival, Caribbean and Brazilian festivals, Back-to-School events, and others) proves a failure to live up to expectations in the recruiting of needed local staff.  Perhaps HPS’ million dollars is being spent on Facebook and Indeed ads, like the failed Adams & Knight teacher recruiting strategy.  Great.

The Superintendent’s 7-year strategy of “HHH,” Hiring outside contractors and Hope you Hit it (more than $20 million in 2022-23), has produced insufficient results.  It’s time COVID, student demographics, and teachers are no longer made Band-Aids for ineffective and failed district leadership.

UPDATE (per an anonymous teacher email): Sept.11, 2023, Bulkeley High School, 6 teachers absent, 1 substitute teacher brought in.