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The Jennings School District has opened a teacher supply center and a staff wellness room on Oct.  24. The district is also reviewing the salary scales of support staff compared to nearby districts and improvements in support staff scales will be made for the 2014-15 year. In addition to the supports for staff, the district is encouraging all staff to support student scholarships.

Supt. Tiffany Anderson  said the district is committed to investing in their staff members and staff members are also further investing in students in tangible ways.  Last year the district unfroze the salary scale as the first step to increasing supports to teachers and a foundation was established to offer scholarships to students.

Teacher Supply Center and Staff Wellness Center

Although principals will continue to purchase supplies for staff, the district wanted to provide an additional way to thank staff for volunteerism. Teachers may receive Jennings Bucks from their principal when they volunteer in requested areas at their school. Jennings Bucks can only be used to purchase items at the Jennings Teacher Supply Center.

Since many teachers volunteer at Kidsmart, which provides supplies in exchange for volunteerism,  the district is providing a similar way to thank staff for volunteerism.  In addition to the teacher supply center, a health and wellness center has been established and the district will offer free courses such as Zumba and Boot Camp. Various other cardio workout sessions during the holiday season will be offered. Teachers spend so much time at work after hours, the district felt that they should take the steps to fill the fitness needs to support staff in as many ways as possible, said Superintendent Anderson.

The district is using a few rooms in the Gary Gore building to make the resources available to staff.

As the district pledges to further support staff, the staff members are making pledges to support students with scholarships. The goal is for 100% of the staff to contribute to student scholarships and the first 20 staff members have already made their pledges. This year the 100% of the Senior High students are applying to a postsecondary institution.

Dr. Anderson added, “The Jennings school community members are very dedicated and the district just wants to give back to staff in as many ways as possible. Recycling the positive energy within the district and helping each other is exciting and it’s what makes Jennings so special.” (story provided by Jennings School District)