Discussion Board

Post your questions or leave your comments here regarding finding the right staff for high school programs.

I have found it successful to include your students in the selection of teachers.  I would generally do a focus group with students to determine what types of activities they wanted in afterschool and during that process, we would discuss which teachers they would like to invite to help in afterschool.  Then I would ask them to invite the teacher.  It was amazing how many teachers said yes just because the students asked.  Students are also valuable in identifying community members who have specific talents that would benefit afterschool (ie. stomp dancers.)

All our staff had to be interviewed by a panel of young people.  Our HR department worked with us to create the process.
We also had a peer youth worker program that taught employment skills you high school students and created a pool for staff as they got older.  I also used my position at the U of MN to recruit students from the youth work or social work programs for internships and staff positions.  Some were great, and some realized they needed to switch majors! 😊