Information resources

Custodial and maintenance vacancies quietly break school buildings. Distribution centers pay more, and commercial cleaners hire faster, both chasing the same workers. You may not out-pay every competitor, but you can out-position, out-communicate, and out-care them. Here is how districts are filling facilities roles and keeping the people who know where every shut-off valve is.

A Class B CDL takes weeks and up to $5,000 to earn, and your starting wage still lags behind trucking and gig work. That math is why so many districts cannot fill their routes. The districts that can have stopped waiting for applicants and started removing the barriers that screen good candidates out before the first conversation. Here is what they are doing differently, from paid CDL training to the retention check-ins that keep new drivers past year one.

The hardest part of after-school staff retention starts after the offer is signed. Onboarding sets the tone for the first 90 days, and what comes next decides whether staff stay for the long haul. A look at the eight practices that keep great after-school staff supported, recognized, and growing year after year.

Afterschool roles should be easy to fill: predictable hours, meaningful work, open to candidates without a degree. So why are they chronically hard to staff? The honest answer is a collision between what candidates need to earn and what programs can offer, plus a hiring process built for 2005. Here is what actually works, from candidate personas to 24-hour response to year-round pipelines.

Twenty years ago, a school cafeteria job sold itself on stability. Today, the same worker is comparing it to a Chipotle that pays $17 to $22 an hour, has a start date within 4 days, and takes an eight-minute application on their phone. Most districts are still running a 2004 playbook. The good news: the bar to compete isn't as high as it feels.

AI is changing the economics of work faster than most institutions are prepared for. As automation reshapes corporate jobs, the value of deeply human skills, relationship-building, caregiving, teaching, and skilled trades may rise dramatically. The future workforce could look very different from the one schools and employers spent decades preparing people for.

Hiring special education teachers and paraprofessionals is one of the toughest challenges facing school districts today. Ongoing shortages, burnout, and complex compliance requirements make hiring and retaining these roles difficult. Districts that succeed take a strategic approach, from clearer job postings and stronger pipelines to structured interviews and retention systems.