Small Neb. districts get creative to find teachers
8:20 AM
Posted: Monday, August 25, 2008
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) -- It can be difficult to attract new teachers to small Nebraska school districts, so superintendents have had to get more creative and aggressive.
It has always been tough to recruit teachers for specialized positions such as music and industrial arts, but superintendents say it's never been more difficult than it is today.
And the rural settings and lower salaries that small school districts offer can make it even tougher.
Cedar Rapids Superintendent Amy Malander persuaded an elementary teacher certified to teach K-8 art to tackle high school art, too, when she didn't get any applications two years ago.
This year, she got two applications for a math position.
Mike McCabe, superintendent of the Ansley and Arcadia school districts, said he used to get maybe 15 applicants for a social studies job, and now he feels lucky if he gets four or five.
McCabe said he has seen that older applicants with a spouse and family tend to find small towns appealing as places to raise children. But recent college graduates tend to dismiss small schools out of hand, because as singles in their early 20s, they see rural areas as a social dead-end.
"I don't think they're looking at the school so much as they're looking at the town's environment and atmosphere," McCabe said.
John Poppert, superintendent of Giltner public schools, said he can understand that concern.
"They're 23, 24 years old," Poppert said. "There's not much to do in Giltner compared to Grand Island or Hastings."
The Nebraska State Education Association said state statistics show that only about half of the people of who received teaching certificates from the state in 2005 were teaching here two years later.
Jess Wolf, the union's president, said teachers are leaving for higher pay either in another state or another profession.
Malander, the Cedar Rapids superintendent, said the business world is outpaying school districts.
"If you're graduating in math and the sciences, you're going into engineering and not into education, because of the low salary," Malander said.
The hiring challenges don't mean, though, that superintendents are relegated to advertising a position, then praying for applicants.
Many are diligently building relationships with education departments in the state's colleges, then relentlessly pursuing their graduates.
Dan Bird, superintendent of Burwell public schools, said it's not unusual for him and his colleagues to call coveted students directly.
That's a significant change from years past, when the candidates had to make themselves stand out to districts.
"Instead of waiting for them to come to you, you're making the call, asking them to come," Bird said.
He also tries to determine early in the school year which of his teachers aren't planning on returning, so he can advertise earlier and get a better crop of candidates.
Early used to mean April, Bird said. Now, it means before Jan. 1.
The Giltner district owns five homes in town that it rents out to young teachers for a low cost.
Other districts try to develop their own teachers. Malander said she's helping a Cedar Rapids woman get a foreign language teaching certificate through a program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Also, the brightest Cedar Rapids students are told about the opportunities to come back and teach in their hometown.
It has always been tough to recruit teachers for specialized positions such as music and industrial arts, but superintendents say it's never been more difficult than it is today.
And the rural settings and lower salaries that small school districts offer can make it even tougher.
Cedar Rapids Superintendent Amy Malander persuaded an elementary teacher certified to teach K-8 art to tackle high school art, too, when she didn't get any applications two years ago.
This year, she got two applications for a math position.
Mike McCabe, superintendent of the Ansley and Arcadia school districts, said he used to get maybe 15 applicants for a social studies job, and now he feels lucky if he gets four or five.
McCabe said he has seen that older applicants with a spouse and family tend to find small towns appealing as places to raise children. But recent college graduates tend to dismiss small schools out of hand, because as singles in their early 20s, they see rural areas as a social dead-end.
"I don't think they're looking at the school so much as they're looking at the town's environment and atmosphere," McCabe said.
John Poppert, superintendent of Giltner public schools, said he can understand that concern.
"They're 23, 24 years old," Poppert said. "There's not much to do in Giltner compared to Grand Island or Hastings."
The Nebraska State Education Association said state statistics show that only about half of the people of who received teaching certificates from the state in 2005 were teaching here two years later.
Jess Wolf, the union's president, said teachers are leaving for higher pay either in another state or another profession.
Malander, the Cedar Rapids superintendent, said the business world is outpaying school districts.
"If you're graduating in math and the sciences, you're going into engineering and not into education, because of the low salary," Malander said.
The hiring challenges don't mean, though, that superintendents are relegated to advertising a position, then praying for applicants.
Many are diligently building relationships with education departments in the state's colleges, then relentlessly pursuing their graduates.
Dan Bird, superintendent of Burwell public schools, said it's not unusual for him and his colleagues to call coveted students directly.
That's a significant change from years past, when the candidates had to make themselves stand out to districts.
"Instead of waiting for them to come to you, you're making the call, asking them to come," Bird said.
He also tries to determine early in the school year which of his teachers aren't planning on returning, so he can advertise earlier and get a better crop of candidates.
Early used to mean April, Bird said. Now, it means before Jan. 1.
The Giltner district owns five homes in town that it rents out to young teachers for a low cost.
Other districts try to develop their own teachers. Malander said she's helping a Cedar Rapids woman get a foreign language teaching certificate through a program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Also, the brightest Cedar Rapids students are told about the opportunities to come back and teach in their hometown.
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