AREA SCHOOL DISTRICTS: Face hiring challenges amid teacher shortage

degrees,” said Colin Sokolowski, executive director of public relations. “Finding substitute teachers remains a challenge for us and many districts.”

Centennial Schools

Currently, Centennial Schools has approximately 20 open teaching positions.

“There are simply not that many candidates for teaching positions. We (recently) attended the Minnesota Job Fair, which is the largest job fair in Minnesota, and there was a significant reduction in the number of candidates who attended,” Human Resources Director Dan Melde explained. “We also know the number of students going into education has significantly reduced over the last couple of years. This will lead to not as many teacher candidates to hire in the future.”

Melde said where the district is seeing its biggest reduction of candidates is in special education. He explained part of the reason for the shortage is the paperwork mandates that are required of special education teachers. “There is less time to work directly with the students,” he said.

To combat the shortage, Centennial has had to increase where and how it advertises positions and attend more job fairs. The district is also advertising on billboards and letting the community know it is hiring by hanging banners on school buildings. “Although we are experiencing a shortage of teachers, Centennial continues to be a place where teachers want to teach,” Melde said.

White Bear Lake Area Schools

Despite the shortage, White Bear

Lake Area Schools says it is currently fully staffed. It may, however, be in need of some summer maintenance workers as well as a few individuals to fill part-time positions next year.

Director of Human Resources

Matthew Mons says the way the district has been able to accomplish that is by hiring a number of teachers on variances in the hardest-to-hire areas and relying on teacher overloads, with teachers teaching during their nonstudent prep time. (A variance is a special permission granted for already fully licensed teachers to teach in another licensure area for which they don’t hold licensure.)

“When we have experienced vacancies in our full-time teaching areas, the positions that have been the hardest to fill have been those in special education, science and world languages,” Mons said, adding that it’s also been difficult to find substitute teachers.

“Our largest shortage is in substitute staff members, in all categories including teachers, paraeducators, nutrition services staff workers and bus drivers,” Mons said. “We are continuously looking for staff members who are interested in these roles.”

Paraprofessionals and those in nutrition services, extended day and transportation departments have also been hard to find. “These positions play an important role in supporting our students’ experience each day, so it is vital to us that we are able to recruit terrific candidates for these positions,” Mons said.

Similarly, to Centennial, White Bear Area Schools says the overall hiring environment has become more challenging.

“Fewer professionals are seeking jobs

CONTRIBUTED in education, meaning we are receiving fewer applications and we are having difficulty finding applicants for some of our licensed areas,” Mons explained.

The district has tried to “think outside the box” on how to get the word out about open positions; for example, it has been using yard signs and social media for that purpose.

“Our communications efforts are also seen as a recruitment and retention tool. As we continue to tell the story of the district, we aim to help people see that it’s both a place where students learn and grow and a place where employees engage and make a difference,” Mons explained.

Managing Editor Shannon Granholm can be reached at 651-407-1227 or quadnews@presspubs.com.