The Kootenay Lake school district is doing all it can to solve the issues surrounding the implementation of Smart Find Express, a call-out system for substitutes, according to human resources manager Susanne Morris.
“It is a pretty complex system but it also works very well in ensuring fairness,” she told the school board on Tuesday evening. “I’ve been monitoring the system closely. I feel like I’ve been babysitting that thing.”
Though there have been vocal critics of the system, Morris pointed out their classroom fill-rate is now higher than it was last year — it’s currently sitting at 97.5 per cent.
“The reasons for not filling are really consistent: human error,” she said, adding that the system “was calling out exactly as it should.”
Morris has contacted teachers on call in the district to make sure they’re booking themselves as not available in the system on days they can’t work.
Currently the administration is seeing a huge number of unanswered calls, so after consultation with the teachers’ union they’ve decided to adjust their call-out times.
From now on no calls will be made on Friday nights, calls will only be made from 7-to-9 p.m. in evenings and there will be no calls on Sundays that fall before a holiday Monday.
Morris noted 760 staff members have trained on the new system, many of them more than once. She said training will continue.
Morris invited anyone having trouble with the system to contact her directly.