LM April 2024

experience. Turnover is occurring in our district to some extent as new teachers go to a district that has a higher pay scale. Due to the extreme teacher shortage, it is easy for a veteran teacher with 20 years of experience to be picked up by those higher-paying districts. This turnover, and lack of qualified teacher applicants, make building and sustaining consistency in our instructional programs throughout the school district difficult. Secondly, using this teacher vacancy grant, we are focusing on mentoring teachers with three years or less experience in the classroom. Designing and establishing a formal mentoring program helps us create a positive and supportive work environment to provide our newest teachers with better working conditions where they teach and students are engaged in learning. The Teacher Mentor Director is accountable for mentors and mentees through monthly and weekly meetings with mentors, with reports filed with the Teacher Leader. How big of an impact will this grant have on your district ? First, we have reimbursed tuition to “our own” paraprofessionals who are employees and parents of Gallatin County CUSD #7. Possibly, 6–8 paraprofessionals are working toward their PEL. (A list of universities our paraprofessionals attend is pre-approved based on acceptable tuition costs.) Reimbursement for tuition for paraprofessionals employed with the district to obtain a Professional Educators License and for certified teachers employed in the district to acquire an endorsement in any hard-to-fill subject area or needed positions in the district (i.e., middle school and high school Mathematics, K–12 special education, preK–12 physical education, preschool, elementary, 9–12 industrial technology, HS driver’s education, etc.) began this year Secondly, we encourage veteran teachers to mentor mentees as we utilize this grant money to focus on mentoring teachers with three years or less experience and those who need help after year three. Designing and establishing a formal mentoring program has allowed us to create a positive and supportive work environment to provide our newest teachers with better working conditions where they teach and where students are expected to learn. We have created a Teacher Leader’s position paying a stipend for the Mentor-Mentee Program’s accountability. The Teacher Leader works with administrators and the teacher’s association and together we designed and

employed. We have diligently recruited talented, capable teachers for our open positions. However, we still have six positions to be filled and no applicants to fill these positions in our rural area (i.e., high school science, physical education, middle school math, special education, preK–12 instructional leader, and elementary teacher). These positions are posted this school year, and we have received no applications for PE, high school science, Jr. High Math, preschool instructional leader, or elementary teacher. We received only one application from a special education candidate last week. We have identified numerous causes for our district’s need for teacher vacancy support; however, the list continues. We realize there is a lack of students attending or graduating from education programs in all universities; there is no one to walk up to your table at job recruitment fairs; rural districts have a lower pay scale, and rural school districts such as ours require more travel time to and from the district. Many teachers drive 20 miles to work every morning and 20 miles to return home. There has also become a need for more access to secondary education content (i.e., physical education, math, science, English, ESL); more and more students are in online teaching programs to get the needed content. One of the most common issues we have dealt with is that after completing their bachelor’s degree in education, the teacher candidate must take multiple expensive tests (some states up to 9), and many still need to pass the required tests successfully. How does your district plan to use the Teacher Vacancy Grant to address staffing challenges? To address challenges, we have focused on our paraprofessional employees enrolled in or desiring to become teachers. Every paraprofessional enrolled in a teacher education program lives in our school district community. We know that reimbursing tuition to “our own” paraprofessionals and community members will allow us to retain these teachers we help put through teacher education programs; this is their home and their children’s school. We have also encouraged our veteran teachers to return for endorsements in hard-to-fill areas. Working with our community members and current veteran teachers will help fill positions and improve longevity. As a rural district, we serve a high percentage of low-income students. However, we know our students are not the cause of turnover because every substitute teacher in our region wants to be at the top of our substitute teacher list. Schools and students pay a price when new teachers leave the profession after only two or three years, just when they have acquired valuable teaching

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LM April 2024