Northwest needs to value its staff more through benefits

Teachers have one of the most underappreciated jobs. Each one dedicates their career to preparing students for their futures and helping them succeed in life. Despite this, people barely take time to stop and thank them, let alone give them the proper benefits that should come with their job.

Throughout the U.S., it’s no secret teacher shortages became more prevalent following the COVID pandemic. After a survey done of members of the National Education Association, 55 % are considering leaving or retiring the profession earlier than expected. This is due to the stress they’ve faced by attempting to fill in vacancies from sickness. While the problem started three years ago, no steps have been taken to improve benefits or quality of work to encourage a flow of new staff members.

At Northwest specifically, the benefits given with an instructing position does not encourage many to want to work here. While they do receive basics such as healthcare and mental health resources, they are robbed of simple amenities. For starters, professors have to purchase their own parking passes for campus. Let that sit for a second. They have to pay to park near a building so they can do their job.

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They also don’t receive free entry to sporting events like students do.

Faculty should not be excluded from these benefits when the University couldn’t function without them.For a school who prides itself on education and started with a focus on education, we are not giving students any encouragement to pursue teaching.

When an education student is watching their professors receive less than satisfactory benefits with their jobs, why would they want to go through the same thing? The University needs to set the bar, starting with improving the benefit policies.

Instead of denying instructors even the smallest of commodities, we should be improving the quality of their workplace. By valuing staff members, it creates a welcoming atmosphere and encourages instructors to stay. The Board of Regents approved a one-time $1,500 retention bonus for benefit-eligible employees Sept. 14, 2022. Any eligible had to be employed as of Oct. 1 and stay employed until Feb. 1, 2023.

While this is a great first step, teachers should be compensated correctly so there shouldn’t be a need for a retention payment.

Every academic year, it’s not un-

BILLY BROOKS Agriculture Sciences Instructor

“Something to do with parking. Nothing real major, but parking. You know, either eliminate the parking pass as faculty employees, or, you know, especially up here we’re running into that problem where we’re starting to run out of spots. ... I’d say it’s kind of a simpleton answer but one, you know, off the top of my head, at least anyway, that could be beneficial.”

DAVID KIENE School of Education Assistant Professor

common for professors to leave; however, the amount of new faculty coming in is slowly dropping. As of March 24, Northwest has 35 vacant teaching positions including full-time, assistant or associate and adjunct instructors.

Higher education professors in Missouri make an average of $48,115 every year even as the cost of living is going up. Most universities, including Northwest, require a master’s degree to teach at a college level. The problem with this remains while teachers are scraping by on a low salary, they also have to pay off their college education, which increased in cost by 69 % from 2000 to 2020.

Making faculty feel underappreciated by not paying them correctly for the work they’re doing and forcing them to take on more classes due to understaffing is not right. The Editorial Board recognizes the work professors are putting into their jobs and believe they should be compensated accordingly, even with small steps like having free parking and admission into games.

The time has come to value the faculty we already have. It does no good to continue the cycle of replacing vacant positions, this isn’t getting to the root of the problem. Teachers are only asking to be valued — and they should be.

“There’s a lot that Northwest does well. So, it’s hard to nitpick and find one thing that I feel they can do better. I could say being more flexible or up to date when it comes to changes that have happened in higher ed, especially after the pandemic. Being more in tune with virtual instruction, being more reticent to alternative ways of meeting the needs of students.”

JESSICA GILES Freshman Diversity and Inclusion Office Assistant

“One thing Northwest could do to make my life easier is advocating the Diversity and Inclusion events better.”

Your Bearcat wishes they could have a grill THE STROLLER:

Now that it is officially spring, even though it was postponed since that godforsaken groundhog saw his shadow, I’m reminded of one of my favorite activities: grilling.

Some people may look forward to the promise of warmer days and being able to go outside without multiple layers of clothing, but I enjoy turning on the propane and making a fantastic dinner. You may be asking yourself what kind of person is writing this, a 45-year-old dad? No, I simply just enjoy the little things in life like a medium rare steak. This small pleasure has been taken away from me, though. Living off campus, one of the first rules is that there are no grills allowed.

I had suffered through the absence of a grill while living in the dorms, and I wasn’t about to do it again. Quit all this nonsense of “it might cause a fire.” I’m not going to let my chicken burn, let alone my apartment. But, yet again, another spring time will pass me by without the small happiness of being able to grill.

I’ve been following the rules, but I’ll just leave you with one question: Do you even really have a grill if your landlord doesn’t know about it? The philosophy has proved to work so far with my “non-existent” cat.

The Stroller has been a tradition since 1918 and does not reflect the views of the Northwest Missourian.

National Championship

DOUBLEHEADERS

CONTINUED FROM A12

Northwest is No. 9 in the MIAA standings, No. 3 in the conference in team batting average (.316), No. 5 in home runs (29), No. 2 in total hits (271) and No. 6 in team on-base percentage (.382).

Emporia is No. 11 in the MIAA standings, No. 11 in team batting average (.279), No. 11 in the conference in home runs (12) and No. 9 in team on-base percentage (.372). Washburn is No. 15 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II Top 25 Poll, No. 3 in the MIAA standings, No. 7 in the conference in team onbase percentage (.377) and No. 6 in total hits (247).

P I T Z E N B E R G E R PITZENBERGER P I T Z E N B E R G E R PITZENBERGER B O DY S H O P BODY SHOP B O DY S H O P BODY SHOP

The second-year coach said the game plan is to carry the momentum from last weekend’s games against Central Oklahoma and Newman March 24-25, regardless of the difference in records and statistics.

“We just need to still focus on those timely hits, and our pitchers threw well this past weekend,” Tellez said. “Being able to continue to throw well, get the hits in key moments and just being able to score in multiple different ways and not relying too much on the long ball, it’s something that we’re going to be working on.”

With the season being a couple games over the middle mark of the 2023 season for Northwest, the Bearcats are on pace to have the best season for the program since 2018, when they finished with a record of 27-19 overall and 16-10 in the MIAA.

Love and Tellez said this team is destined for greatness with 22 games remaining on the schedule. Perhaps to the Bearcats’ disadvantage, only 10 of those contests will be at home.

“I think we have so much more growing to do, and clearly I think we can get more wins,” Love said. “I think that we’ve definitely met our goals already, but I definitely think we have more things to shoot for going into the future.”

“I always tell them the wins and losses aren’t a direct product of the work we have put in, but it’s obviously nice to see those results,” Tellez said. “At the same time, we do still have so much to go and so much to work for, but it is nice knowing that some of it has already paid off.”

TENNIS CONTINUED FROM A12

For coach Nicole McGinness, it was a great atmosphere for the team to be in for the home-opener and come out with a win.

“It feels great,” McGinness said “I am glad for us to use the courts at Northwest, and it was very special for today to be Senior Day, and it just made the day a lot more special.”

After the Spoofhounds bounced back from their season-opening loss to Savannah — just their sixth loss since the start of the 2021 season — Teale said he wants to see the team continue to improve.

“We are hoping for wins, but also getting better every single day,” Teale said. “From last year, we have gotten better, but we have to keep going in order

-KASON TEALE to make it to the state competition this year.”

For both Teale and Staples, they said they have a very close bond because they have been doubles partners for two years and that they are involved with other sports as well.They said they believe that they have an edge over most of the other doubles teams because of how in sync they are in practice and during match play.

“We played soccer together and we have played tennis together for two years now, so I think that we have great chemistry as not just teammates, but friends.”

The Spoofhounds are No. 4 in the Class 16 District 1 rankings so far this year, and Maryville will look to build momentum as the team hits the road against Lafayette-St. Joseph March 30 and Bishop LeBlond April 4. Both of the matches will be in St. Joseph.