By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — SAU 6 Human Resource Director Patrick O’Hearn gave an extensive report about exit interview data in the Claremont School District that was praised by members of the Claremont School Board for its thoroughness.
O’Hearn spoke to the board at their meeting on Wednesday night, saying that the purpose of conducting exit interviews is to gather the information from staff so the administrative team can close gaps. These exit interviews are solely for Claremont, and there is separate data gathered for those from Unity.
“Incorporating exit interview data into the district’s strategic planning process allows us to really get a clearer picture on factors that drive turnover,” O’Hearn said. “I am of the opinion that oftentimes it is easy to look at compensation as a reason folks are leaving, but I think we have to dig deeper than just pay.”
O’Hearn said an example is that if staff doesn’t have adequate resources or proper engagement with colleagues, then the pay becomes a concern. The goal was to look at data collected from Fiscal Year 2024, come up with trends, and then devise plans.
O’Hearn touched upon the key themes that started with compensation. This was mostly highlighted around support staff, like paraprofessionals. Some specifically called out that they were looking for professional development opportunities, and one person said they didn’t think this was tailored for her. Work environment was huge, as in high caseloads for special education.
“Recommendations, how we can close the gap: for compensation, one is conducting an annual market review,” O’Hearn said. “It’s one thing to always adjust salaries when negotiating CBAs, but it is another to be proactive to know where the market is.”
Enhanced professional development opportunity, and developing specific training programs, would be beneficial, the data showed.
“I think a lot of the themes we saw from the survey, we already recognized as issues,” he said. “The big ones, already have steps in place. If we’re looking for new ideas, then employee engagement surveys. We just sent out our first one last week.”
One theme that he found was burnout among staff. He said this wasn’t surprising with people participating in strategic sessions. They are looking at turnover for those teachers in the first three years, which are crucial and drive long term attention. Another theme is lack of support for resources, or having a mentor relationship. Heavy workload was consistent theme, and challenging student behavior was a trend.
Consistently, there was a theme of frustration with a lack of clear communication and prompt responses from administration.
One comment was directed at “unneeded stress from certain board members,” and the school board agreed that this was important to recognize so they can improve in this department.
O’Hearn said that this all may be reflective from school years prior, and this is a key point when looking at data. There will be a lag, and when you start implementing leadership skills and standard operating procedures, it may take a while to trickle down, he explained.
“Whenever a staff exits the organization, resigns essentially, they get sent an email that invites them for an in person exit interview with myself,” he said. “Also, they get an opportunity to fill out the Google Forms survey.”
O’Hearn said there were 16 participants in the data through Google Forms, and there was also information provided from 15 conversations. This is required by policy to offer them the interviews, but it is up to the employee to participate.
One recommendation is to boost the engagement numbers. With most engagement surveys about 70% participation is desired. There were about 40 staff members who left, so ideally they want about 30 to participate. The hope is to get these numbers up next year.
He recommends conducting two surveys per year, with one at the beginning of the school year to monitor how they are doing and what key areas where there are “pebbles in their shoe.” From an HR perspective, he said they want to conduct “stay interviews” to find reasons why people are staying and what makes them happy. Another aspect would be to improve the exit interview standpoint and modify the survey to include their voting.
“Right now the 16 data points, I don’t know who is whom unless I read the comments,” he said. “Next year we can see how each building and each category responds.”
Board Vice Chair Frank Sprague was thankful for the work put in by O’Hearn, saying that it has gone above and beyond any report they’ve received in the past.
“Speaking for the long-term people, this is more than we’ve ever seen before, I think, as far as something that’s a policy,” Sprague said. “What I’m really glad to hear you say is, already reflecting on how to make it better. Not that I am criticizing of it at all because this is the best product I’ve ever seen, but I’m glad you’re thinking that way.”
O’Hearn said that he is a “data nerd,” and was happy to do this. He said the district hasn’t had the data points they currently have to improve, and now they have the points to guide them.
