New Schools Head to Change Teacher Hiring

Menlo Park City School District will have a new certificated teacher hiring process starting in February 2012, if all goes according to plan. 

New Superintendent is forming a group of administrators, teachers and subject-matter experts, who will be asked to identify what high-performing companies in Silicon Valley do during their hiring process. The group will use that data to “find the best teachers in the world.”

“It’s much less expensive to hire someone than to train them,” Ghysels told the Tuesday night during its first board meeting of the academic year.

“We want someone hard wired to our values,” he added, citing Google as an example.

The group will be tasked with researching best practices in the public and private sector, ultimately utilizing this data to design a new hiring process for certificated staff by Feb. 1, 2012, according to PowerPoint presentation slides from Tuesday’s presentation.

The group’s Goal Team Leader will be Kathryn Christopherson, who handles Human Resources for the district.  Ghysels will be the project manager. Their team will be composed of Board Member , and other yet-to-be named individuals. The size of the group will depend on how many people are willing to assist.

Christopherson would be responsible for facilitating the meetings, identifying members, asking for reports and other things. Ghysels will be helping her, he said.

“So Kathryn would be your boss,” Thygesen asked while smiling. “I like it.”

The new hiring process is expected to roll out in the 2012-2013 academic year.