Tutor Turnover Prompts Look at Pay Rate
NEWINGTON - Newington Schools is looking to increase the pay for its educational tutors in an effort to curb turnover rates that have been on the rise as the district has fallen behind other towns in the area of compensation.

       There are currently around 100 tutors districtwide, but Superintendent Bill Collins says that he sees an estimated five resignations-at least-on a weekly basis.

       â€"It’s a huge problem,” Collins said. â€"We haven’t been able to keep people. We’re going to have to increase our rates. We’re one of the lowest-paying districts by far-you can’t blame them for leaving.”

       Going by current trends statewide, Newington-currently paying $12.50 an hour-would have to go up $8 to become competitive with other districts, according to Collins. Getting there, however, will be a gradual process taken in smaller step increases over time, he said.

       At 150,000 collective tutor work hours, raising the hourly rate by $8 now would cost the district an additional $1.2 million.

       For now, the district is examining how it structures the roles of the position, Collins said. He has been consulting with the District Management Council, which recommends shifting the duties of tutoring personnel to align with needs driven by an uptick in special education and medically fragile students.

       Between 2005 and 2015, Newington has seen the number of students utilizing special education services go from 505 to 575-or 10.9 percent of population to 13.3 percent. In medically fragile, the number has gone from 122 to 224 in that 10-year window.

       â€"It’s a very different job than it was even five years ago,” Collins said.

       The restructuring will involve reducing the number of tutoring positions the district holds-a process that will be carried out through attrition, as opposed to layoffs, but the district will then be able to pay more, Collins said.

       â€"I think that once we do that, we should be able to retain more people,” he said.

       At the last Board of Education meeting, Chief Financial Officer Lou Jachimowicz estimated that breakage through tutor attrition generated a $500,000 surplus.

       â€"It’s gotten us out of a couple of binds, but it also leaves gaps in services,” Collins said.

       Jachimowicz noted a time/work bonus that covers the summer months for support staff that have been with the district for at least five years. One option being entertained is to lower the minimum tenure requirement for tutors.

       â€"That [five years] just seems too long for today’s workforce,” Jachimowicz said.

      
STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA   |  Jun 10 2016  |  COMMENTS?