EDUCATOR CRUNCH

red tape out of there,” he said. “Another thing would be reciprocity – if another state has licensed you as a teacher, we’re going to license you in South Dakota. Maybe that would help some. But overall, there’s a teacher shortage across the country. So I think one of the long-term solutions we need to look at is working harder to grow our own.”

Person said a focus on the positive is integral to the educator recruitment process.

“I think we need to do a better job as educators telling our story of what an awesome career this is,” Person said. “You have the opportunity to shape young lives and I mean that in a positive way. As a teacher, you have the opportunity on a daily basis to interact with these wonderful young people and inspire them to do great things and there’s nothing like that connection you make with a kid and they’re going to do something positive in the world, in part, because of their interaction with you. That’s better than any money. And we need to do a better job of telling that story.”

Belle Fourche School District

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Belle Fourche School District Superintendent Dr. Steve Willard said there is, basically, a shortage in all areas of his district’s operations and cited low pay comparative to other jobs and the lack of affordable housing as contributing factors to the lack of teachers in our region.

“A staff shortage creates the need for innovative scheduling measures for counselors and principals,” Willard said. “It also reduces some class offerings especially in the middle school and high school.”

Willard said that while his district was able to fill positions this year, every year it becomes a greater challenge.

“In past years, we might have a pool of six to seven applicants for a 9-12 position,” he said. “Now we have one, maybe tow. In grades K-8, where we might have 10-15 applicants for a position, we are now getting under 10 applicants. Positions such as SPED, math, science, CTE, and music are very difficult to fill.”

Willard pointed to two programs currently being developed to mitigate the teacher shortage. “Educators Rising is a program that is introducing high school student to opportunities in the field of education. Travis Lape is the director,” he said. “The DOE is also starting a Teacher Apprenticeship program. Don Kirkegaard is one of the project directors.”

Meade School District

Meade School District Superintendent Wayne Wormstadt said for this year, all open positions have been filled, but that his district is similar to many others struggling to get applicants in all areas.

“We have been fortunate,” he said. “Though we have fewer applicants, we have had quality hires.”

Asked what he would attribute the teacher/school district employee shortage to, Wormstadt offered the following.

“Working within a school system is a great profession that makes a difference to students, families and communities. Whether a person works in food service, custodial, secretarial, paras, driving bus, coaching or teaching you have an opportunity to help children,” he said. “With our current needs for employees in direct competition with the private sector with a low unemployment rate, we struggle to find many applicants. We see this the most with teachers not entering CTE areas -- science, math and computers -- as many do not choose education as they can make more in the private sector. While wages may be lower than other private sectors the benefits within public education are very competitive.”

In regard to how the shortage affects district operations, Wormstadt said it can create more burdens as staff pick up extra duties and that to mitigate the shortage, retention of current teachers needs to be a focus.

“We tend to squeeze other budget items in order to find more money to put towards employee compensation,” he said. “We need to celebrate the overwhelming great things our staff does for students. The Meade School District has great employees supporting students and we need to support our staff. The other area is how do we increase wages to be competitive with the private sector and recruit to the profession. Our investment in the school system and staff is a long-term