Richmond Community Schools employees are reporting higher rates of job satisfaction, and efforts to improve internal communication have begun, according to school administrators.
Stacy Mopps, human resources director, shared results of the district’s employee retention survey with school board members at their April 9 meeting.
The anonymous survey sent to all RCS employees analyzes employee engagement, workplace culture, career development, compensation and management.
The percentage of employees who found their job satisfying rose from 57.5% in 2022-2023 for the first survey, to 66.9% in 2024-2025.
The full presentation is available at wwn.to/rcs25satisfied.
Survey questions have stayed the same since its creation in the winter of 2023 to track trends over time.
Mopps said several central office leaders have started weekly newsletters for building principals and a newsletter is placed in restrooms to keep all staff informed.
In other business
- Contracts: The board approved an approximately $5 million contract with Thor Construction for Dennis Middle School’s Phase II project including heating/ventilation/air conditioning and some classroom renovations starting this summer.
RCS also will continue teletherapy speech/language services from Orange Grove Therapy LLC because of a lack of speech/language pathologists. The cost is $79/hour for up to 412.5 hours per week plus a $800 monthly coordination fee.
RCS will pay a total of $6,720 to Playground IEP Software and Services so 56 special educators can use a caseload management platform to streamline workflows, reduce paperwork, enhance collaboration and improve compliance and student support.
RCS also will continue $2,700 in services with Curtis & Livers Consulting Group, LLC. Its student management application enables efficient recording and reporting of special education student information to comply with state mandates.
- Facilities: Richmond Redevelopment Commission has allotted $1,253,000 to RCS and needs to consider possibilities. Assistant Superintendent of Operations Karen Scalf is working on ideas for the application and will present them to the board. One potential project is making sure all of McGuire Hall’s sound and rigging needs are met for drama productions.
- Transportation: RCS launched a new web and mobile app, My Ride K-12, on April 21. It provides school bus schedules and real-time bus arrival estimates that can reduce time spent waiting at the stop and help students avoid missing their ride.
- Summer school: Incoming grades 9-12 will attend from May 27-June 20 and grades K-4 will attend June 2-27. In-person band and physical education classes will continue; other courses are blended learning through a digital platform.
- Policies: Student suicide awareness/prevention, student recognition and agenda policies were approved after a second reading. Policies on bullying and student productions of goods/services advanced to second reading. A school calendar policy was tabled. Technical corrections were approved on a few policies.
- Executive session: After the public meeting, the board discussed a job performance evaluation of individual employees.
- Next public board meetings: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23; 4 p.m. May 14 (earlier so members can attend regional training); policy meeting 10-11:30 a.m. May 20. All are at 300 Hub Etchison Parkway, Richmond.
A version of this article appeared in the April 23 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.