our commitment to equity and nondiscrimination 

Windsor Unified is determined to provide district employees and job applicants a safe, positive environment where they are assured of full and equal employment access and opportunities, protection from harassment or intimidation, and freedom from any fear of reprisal or retribution for asserting their employment rights in accordance with law. The Board prohibits district employees from discriminating against or harassing any other district employee or job applicant on the basis of the person's actual or perceived race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sex, or sexual orientation or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.

Diversity in Hiring Goals Being Developed

WUSD has a long history of commitment to improving diversity of its workforce, and will continue to build on this by collecting data, analyzing trends, and setting goals for sites and groups of employees. 

WUSD Leadership will be asked to participate in the collection and analysis of data.

Diversity Hiring to Improve Staff Racial/Ethnic Reflection of the community:

• Develop historical baseline data to identify gaps in diversity by site and employee role.

• Develop priorities of need by roles and sites, and site corresponding hiring goals.

• Develop recruiting and hiring strategies for hiring managers.

• Set appropriate goals and track over time by employee roles and sites.

What HIRING MANAGERS can do now:

• Think about the positions you are trying to fill and identify gaps in diversity by the positions you are filling. Consider race, ethnicity, gender and other factors including cultural/linguistic diversity.

• Develop priorities of need before screening your candidates and use those to build your recruiting and screening criteria.

• Use your criteria to shape your recruitment and screening strategies.

Board policy for recruitment and selection

BP  4211  Personnel Recruitment And Selection Governs  in this area.  

Highlights of Board Policy 4211 Recruitment and Selection

• Ensure individuals are selected based on demonstrated knowledge, skills, and competence and not on any bias, personal preference, or unlawful discrimination

• Review job description for the position to ensure that it accurately describes the major functions and duties of the position.  

• Disseminate job announcements to ensure a wide range of candidates

• Screening processes to include interviews, recommendations from previous employers, and observations when appropriate, as necessary to identify the best possible candidate for a position.

• Establish an interview committee to rank candidates and recommend finalists. 

• During job interviews, applicants may be asked to describe or demonstrate how they will be able to perform the duties of the job. 

• All discussions and recommendations shall be confidential in accordance with law

• No inquiry shall be made with regard to any information prohibited by state or federal nondiscrimination laws.

• District shall not inquire, orally or in writing, in regard to an applicant's salary history information, including compensation and benefits. 

• Salary history information shall not be regarded as a factor in determining whether to offer employment to an applicant or as a determinant of the salary to offer. 

• District may consider salary information that is disclosable under state or federal law or that the applicant discloses voluntarily and without prompting. 

• Upon request, the Superintendent or designee shall provide the applicant the pay scale for the position to which he/she is applying. 

• For each position, the Superintendent or designee shall present to the Board one candidate who meets all qualifications established by law and the Board for the position. 

• No person shall be employed by the Board without the recommendation or endorsement of the Superintendent or designee (Human Resources)

• With Board approval and in accordance with district needs, the district may provide incentives to recruit teachers, administrators, or other employees, such as signing bonuses, assistance with beginning teacher induction and/or credential costs, mentoring, additional compensation, and/or subsidized housing.

1) Set hiring goals

Develop your hiring priorities based on what you are trying to accomplish and where you have already identified vacancies.  

2) secure authorization & Post to hire

1. Use the DO3 Form to get authorization to fill the position. If it's a brand new position, use the Position Control form.

2. Contact HR to post internally for five days and then advertise the position on EdJoin.

3. Consider other options to advertise the position, especially when seeking candidates from generally underserved populations or from specialty backgrounds. Seek assistance from Human Resources.

3) Screening candidates

1. Recruit a team to screen and interview candidates. They can be the same people or separate teams. Be sure these teams reflect the diversity of your staff and other appropriate stakeholders. Also, be sure they are representative of the teams that the new employee will be working with. It is also required to designate representatives from our labor partners. 

2. Have your screening committee sign the Confidentiality Form. It is a Google Form and can be found in the WUSD Google Forms Template Gallery. 

3. Use EdJoin Admin and navigate to Applicant Tracking to view the candidates that have applied for your advertised positions.

4. Use the criteria in the posting AND your diversity goals to qualify candidates for interviews.  

5. A Candidate Screening Template is available in the WUSD Google Sheets Template Gallery

4) Interviewing candidates

1. Create questions for the interviews.  

2. Sample Questions from past interviews are located in Human Resources. The hiring administrator can request sample/historical questions by writing a request to humanresources@wusd.org. 

3. An Interview Question Format Template is available in the WUSD Google Docs Template Gallery

4. Director Approval is recommended before finalizing questions. Customize questions for your interviews and email humanresources@wusd.org for assistance and consultation. 

5) selecting candidates

1. Use the Candidate Rating Template available in the WUSD Google Docs Template Gallery

2. Review the following with the interview committee:

   • Confidentiality Agreement as an essential promise not to share information about candidates or the the deliberations of the committee.

   • Non-discrimination policy (see above) and what it means for members of the committee. 

   • Application and documents from each candidate scheduled for interview.

   • Develop a plan for questioning the candidates, and emphasize that candidates should have the same questions and the same opportunity to answer questions. 

   • Set ground rules for when and how to discuss candidates qualifications and responses to interview questions.  Confidentiality Agreement is your essential promise not to share information about candidates or the the deliberations of the committee.

   • Application and documents from each candidate scheduled for interview (share pdf's of applications and reference letters for each candidate).

   • Review the Interview Rating Chart and ask each panelist to make their own copy and share that back with hiring manager to archive.

   • Define the scope of the interview committee. They make a recommendation to the hiring manager who then makes a recommendation to the Superintendent or designee in Human Resources. 

3. After each person on the interview panel completes their ratings, use a process to gain consensus among the group on the top tier of candidates interviewed.

4. Check at least three references for each finalist candidate to aid and assist in your final selection.  Use the Reference Checking Template available in the WUSD Google Docs Template Gallery

5. Review your final recommendation with the Superintendent or designee in Human Resources.

6. Call the approved finalist to let them know an offer will be coming from Human Resources (see below "Recommendations for Hire."

7. Email all candidates that applied but did not get an interview.

8. Call all candidates that were interviewed but not selected. 

6) Recommendations for hire

1. Contact HumanResources@wusd.org to make a recommendation for hire. 

2. After approval from Human Resources, call the candidate and let them know, 

"Congratulations! I am recommending your for hire. Human Resources will call you with an offer and will finalize hire and complete onboarding."