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Districts have fewer teacher openings
Published 7/7/2009 in Local News : Education
By MONICA SPRINGER
There are fewer job openings this year in Garden City USD 457 than there were at this time last year, something the district attributes to teachers staying in their jobs because of the uncertain economic times.
Shelly Kiblinger, assistant superintendent of personnel, said some teachers are staying put and others are foregoing retirement because of the economy, which has been in a recession since December 2007.
There were about 80 vacancies in Garden City schools for the 2009-10 school year, down from 120 openings in the district last year, Kiblinger said. Of the 80 vacancies, 67 have been filled and five offers are pending, leaving 8.5 positions still open, she said.
The positions still open include two bilingual elementary school teachers, two special education teachers, a second grade position, a Title 1 interventionist, high school art, a half-time math coach, and a position at New Outlook Academy.
Kiblinger said she expects four or five of those positions to be filled this week.
All of the positions that are open are budgeted for, Kiblinger said.
Other districts
Officials in other school districts in western Kansas also say they've hired fewer teachers, a combination of teachers staying in their jobs and school districts not filling vacancies through attrition.
Scott City USD 466 has one position open and expects to fill it this week, Superintendent Don Wells said. Three positions will not be filled in Scott City schools, one at the elementary level and two at the high school level, because of budget constraints.
"People aren't moving around a lot," Wells said.
Budget concerns are also present at Hugoton, where USD 210 does not have any openings, Superintendent Mark Crawford said, largely because of the cut in revenues from the state.
"Most districts in the state are using every retirement and resignation as a way to survive through attrition," Crawford said.
Where 457 is recruiting
USD 457 has had good luck with a few states when it comes to recruitment: Kansas, Michigan and Minnesota. There are 26 new teachers from Kansas, 28 from Michigan, and four from Minnesota. Other teachers who will be new to the district in August are from Wyoming, Iowa, Colorado, Texas and the Philippines.
"We've had a phenomenal response from Michigan," Kiblinger said. She added that several teachers from Michigan are now recruiting teachers they know to come to western Kansas.
There's a new recruiting tool that the district implemented this year to help entice teachers to Garden City. The district has added a new page to its Web site called Make the Move.
Located at www.gckschools.com/makethemove, the Web site gives potential teachers the options of researching Garden City's demographics, maps, rentals and real estate agents, transportation and other relocation information. It also lists information and links on local attractions and events.
There are other aspects of the site that teachers can use to determine whether they want to move to Kansas, including a link to a cost of living calculator.
In Michigan, for example, those with a similar salary to a beginning teacher's wage would pay 19 percent more for housing, 9 percent more in transportation and 8 percent more in groceries, utilities and health care.
Kiblinger said the Web site is a good marketing tool. And at the beginning of the year when teachers new to the district complete a survey, she said, she's interested to see how influential the Web site is at attracting them to western Kansas.
Of the 67 teachers who already are hired, 24 have at least one year of teaching experience. Some are veteran teachers.
USD 457 advertises its job vacancies on its Web site, at job fairs and on university career Web sites.
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