KidsLink School Response
nowThank you for your feedback. We are glad that you enjoyed the other staff members and enjoyed seeing our students make progress and strive. We are proud that we were able to maintain all of our employees with full salaries and benefits during Covid and its aftermath, despite multiple disruptions to the school schedule. In 2022, we worked hard to be able to give very large raises above COL adjustment for all employees. In 2023, we contracted an independent HR agency to complete a study examining our salary model compared with other similar specialized organizations in Ohio and KidsLink was found to be at the higher end of salary standards for all positions. This report was shared with our employees. In 2023 and 2024, performance-based increases were provided with raises that met the national average for mid-range performers, and exceeded them for our higher performers. We also appreciate your thoughts about diversity and staff mental health, given that working with special needs students can be very stressful. In response to this, we have added a mental health counseling staff member who is now spearheading DEI efforts and Staff Mental Health support director. We also have an active committee of employees working on diversity initiatives as this is central to our core values. We are also very proud to offer hardship loans to employees and this was implemented after an employee was experiencing a difficult financial matter. We strive to be responsive to our employees needs and unique life circumstances. In addition to our in-house human resources department, we have an outside HR consultant that provides consultation as needed for any staff related issues to ensure that staff related problems are handled the most appropriate way for the employees and the overall well-being of our program. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.