PEOPLE RESOURCES
March 2021
A NOTE FROM TABATHA GUNDRUM, DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES
SPRING BREAK, VACCINES & STAFFING
So much has been happening in the past month and our newsletter is a little late because I was behind in writing my greeting this time. I want to wish you all an absolutely FABULOUS Spring Break next week. Similar to my message before the Winter Break, I truly hope you all are able to rest, refresh and fill your tanks back up during the time away from your classrooms and screens next week. For those staff members that still work during this upcoming Break, I hope you are still able to enjoy the lighter use of the buildings while you are there and the slightly slower pace potentially without the hustle and bustle of our students in our halls. Even this slight change in work dynamics can feel like a respite in many ways.
VACCINES:
We are so excited to move ahead of our plan for scheduling of COVID vaccines with Aspirus!
As of last week, all staff in the District received the go ahead to schedule their vaccine with Aspirus. Data as of Monday showed the following:
- Prior to 3/12/21, Aspirus had vaccinated 97 staff members from WSD.
- Starting 3/12/21 and through 3/19/21, we had another 252 staff members vaccinated.
- There were an additional 38 staff members on the schedule from 3/22/21 forward.
This resulted in a total of 387 staff members vaccinated by Aspirus by Noon on Monday. I am sure these numbers have increased since that point. Additionally, I know that a number of our staff members were able to secure appointments for vaccines through other options (personal physician group, CVS, and Walgreens to name a few). This is super great news. For anyone that hasn’t scheduled your vaccination yet, be sure to call when you want to get that process completed. Although we are not requiring nor tracking vaccinations, we are highly encouraging staff to get the vaccine to help us with our COVID mitigation process. Ultimately, we respect this as your personal medical choice though.
Another notable change in information is related to your time to get the vaccine. Recently, the newly updated legislation suggested to employers to allow for use of COVID related leave to obtain the vaccine. We had not originally planned for that and have since modified our process as a result. If you are needing to get your vaccine during work hours, you are able to have that time entered for COVID related leave which will not hit your leave banks. If you already entered your own sick leave to obtain the vaccine or due to side effects from receiving the vaccine, please reverse that entry in Skyward by entering a negative entry for the same date and time. After doing so, please send an email to the COVID email (covid@wausauschools.org) so that we can get this time entered for you and document it appropriately in the system. We do still ask that you try to work with colleagues in your department/team/grade level so that you aren’t all gone at the same time and try to avoid your student contact time as much as possible. The District and your fellow colleagues will appreciate your efforts on this front.
STAFFING:
We are actively working on our staffing projections for the 2021-22 school year and some of you may have been included in building or departmental conversations already as part of that process. This process involves a number of considerations. We look at our student enrollments, requested courses at the secondary level, current staff allocations and projected needs as a result of all of these areas. The process is not a perfect Science and there is a bit of finesse involved with fitting all of the pieces together. While working on this process over the past 27+ years, the puzzle always comes together in the end, despite some years with significant challenges.
If you will be impacted by any staffing change that we are projecting, we will be having a direct conversation with you and processing the “what” and “why” related to any such change. Overall, we have relatively few changes at this point for our current regular staff members which is great news. More work is needed before we have everything finalized, but we hope to have the remaining steps completed by the first week in April so we can actively post our openings and begin our recruitment process.
Teacher contracts will be distributed to staff by the statutory deadline of May 15th and support staff can expect to hear from us before the end of the school year with confirmation of assignments for next year.
It seems a bit hard to believe that we are already done with ¾ of the school year. As I listen to the birds outside my office window, watch the Spring thaw that is well underway and experience the occasional rain, we continue to look forward to days of sunshine and warmer weather. Enjoy your Spring Break!
LICENSE UPDATES
PEOPLE CONNECT
- All staff were sent a virtual meeting invitation from Tabatha Gundrum via Google Calendar. Meetings are every other week and typically on Fridays. The link to join any session can be accessed here.
- If this time is a significant conflict for anyone, feel free to email HR with whatever your question is and we will be sure to get an answer to you as soon as we can. Thanks!
HEALTHCHECK360
Get ready to finish Wellness 2020-2021 Strong! Activities you can still participate in include:
- Challenge Participation The Total Hydration Challenge is underway and there's still time to participate. See the flyer below for more information.
- Wellness Webinar
- Set Goals: Weight, Activity, Steps
- Track Health
Check out the Wellness Program Guide to learn more about how to earn the wellness incentive.
VACCINE UPDATE
It is GO time everyone! Please make certain to identify yourself as an Educator and provide Wausau School District as your employer.
How to schedule
Individual employees can schedule directly by calling 715-847-2812.
Please note the following:
- There may be wait times as others call at the same time. Please be patient. You will be directed to Press #1 to be transferred to a vaccine scheduler. The scheduled appointment will be treated as an outpatient clinic visit, with a check-in process and information being entered into the electronic health record (Epic).
Appointment location
Vaccinations will be provided at the following location:
Wausau Family Medicine
425 Wind Ridge Drive, Wausau, WI 54401 (located on the corner of Wind Ridge Drive and Bridge Street on Aspirus Wausau Hospital campus)
COVID -19 UPDATE
As a friendly reminder, if you have an issue connected in any way potentially to COVID-19, please email COVID@wausauschools.org as soon as possible. We do monitor and respond to this email throughout the weekends so please do not wait until Sunday to send something to us if you are impacted on the weekend.
We have employed Mike Fischer, a retired teacher, to assist us with some of our close contact tracing and tracking of COVID situations. As a result of these changes, using the one email account will allow for us to process contacts more efficiently and timely without duplicated efforts. Tabatha Gundrum, Tammy Bents, and Mike Fischer will be working from the COVID email account for processing issues as quickly as possible.
(Tele-Health) remote sessions to clients via cell phone, computer, or tablet.
Call Peaceful Solutions Counseling 715-675-3458 to learn more.
FINANCIAL WELLNESS
WISCONSIN STRONG
Take the Wisconsin Strong Financial Fitness Challenge!
- Start with a five-minute Financial Fitness Checkup, and then take advantage of hundreds of interactive courses, articles, and videos (a $1,000 value).
- Complete and pass at least five Financial Fitness Academy courses with a score of 70% or higher to earn points and certificates of completion.
You will receive a personalized playlist of courses on topics such as debt management, budgeting, investments, estate planning, retirement planning, and much more!
SAVING FOR YOUR FUTURE
Step #1, What's Behind Your Financial Decisions?
Step #2, Get Organized
Step #3, Know Where Your Money Goes
Step #4, Shop Smarter
Step #5, Review and Reduce Your Debt
Step #6, Build a Strong Credit Report
Step #7, Save For The Future
Step #8, Set Financial Goals
Step #9, Create a Spending Plan
Step #10, Invest Money to Reach Your Goals
Smart About Money also has many helpful worksheets, financial calculators, and free courses.
CHANGE OF PHONE OR ADDRESS?
TELL US WHAT YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW
We are looking for topics that interest you. Please let us know what you'd like to see in a future newsletter. Send your responses to wsdhr@wausauschools.org.
CONTACT HUMAN RESOURCES
Email: wsdhr@wausauschools.org
Website: http://www.wausauschools.org/cms/one.aspx?pageId=3633368
Location: Longfellow Administration Center
Phone: 715-261-0520