Public school districts across the state and the nation are struggling to fill empty teaching positions, and unfortunately, the Marshalltown Community School District is no different.

District Director of Human Resources Nora Ryan said the undertaking of hiring new instructors has not lessened.

“The universities are seeing declines in enrollments for their teacher prep programs, so we are feeling that overall decline in the overall pool of applicants,” she said.

Some districts in Iowa are offering incentives to keep teachers and attract new hires. For example, the Des Moines district is offering bonuses to existing educators if they remain in their positions an additional year instead of retiring. Cedar Rapids offers financial signing bonuses to new teachers moving to the area, and to new teachers who have a background in diverse environments.

Marshalltown has implemented several incentives to attract new hires.

“Hiring bonuses and removing the cap on the years of experience we grant on the salary schedule are two examples,” Ryan said. “In addition, we offer a relocation reimbursement up to $2,500, which definitely makes us unique. We have seen the decline in applicants for the last several years, but no more than other large districts. We are sitting with roughly the same openings at this time last year.”

Besides the initial incentives, she said Marshalltown offers some of the best benefits for teachers when compared to other districts of similar-size and within close proximity. According to Ryan, Marshalltown has very competitive pay and a strong mentorship program.

“Honestly, our most compelling reason to come work for us is our people,” she said. “We have the most dedicated, committed staff across all classifications of staff. It only takes observing a class or two to realize we also have the best students around. Our staff are here for the right reasons, and we owe them everything.”

Fortunately, Ryan said the district has not had an excessive amount of teachers retiring. Most of the time, the positions open because the educators decide to relocate. She added a few opted to leave the profession.

“In exit interviews, people are not citing disgruntled reasons for leaving, but instead they are often leaving the area,” she said.

The source of the hiring trial is the lack of college students choosing education for their major. Ryan said Iowa is not the only state facing a shortage of graduates with teaching degrees – Arizona, Florida and Texas began to see the decline years ago.

“The Midwest is just now starting to see that unfortunate trend,” she said.

The Marshalltown district has 23 teaching positions listed on the job website. Two of the listings indicate multiple positions in different buildings. Despite the ongoing effort to bring in teachers, Ryan said the district has seen an improvement in hiring support staff.

“We saw a 39 percent increase from June to July in our support staff applicants,” she said. “I believe this can be attributed to the large hourly rate increases the district offered this year.”

To help with the persistent battle to obtain substitute teachers, Marshalltown has increased the daily pay to $145. Plus, if a substitute works more than 50 days in one school year, the daily rate is $165. Ryan said the district also has full-time substitute teaching positions with benefits. Besides teachers, the district is in need of substitute support positions like substitute secretaries, paraeducators, custodians and food service workers.

NEW TEACHER HIRES

Even though the Marshalltown Community School District has had difficulty filling many teaching positions, they found 40 new teachers for the new school year starting Aug. 23.

The new teachers, what they will teach and the school buildings they will be working in are:

• Anson Elementary: Early math interventionist, Matthew Hofmeyer; kindergarten, Nina Guerra;

• Fisher Elementary: Special education, Lisa Pageler; librarian, Stephanie Ruddick;

• Franklin Elementary: First grade, Kelsey Bartles; third grade, Megan Jordan; fourth grade, Olivia Brintnall;

• Hoglan: Special education, Nicole Clark;

• Rogers Elementary: Special education, Tara Heck; preschool, Kaylee Chyma; third grade, Briana Gibbs; Title I, Elizabeth Overstake;

• Woodbury Elementary: Third grade, Jazmine Urbina and Veronica Correa Gonzalez; Preschool, Bat-seba Ocampo;

• Lenihan Intermediate School: Fifth grade, Rebecca Callahan and Patricia Herrera; sixth grade, Ivan Guerra; intermediate academic interventionist, LaWayne Rogers;

• Miller Middle School: Seventh grade science, Ryan Dierks; seventh grade social studies, Connor McKibben; eighth grade social studies, Connor Spoden; librarian, Emily Van Arkel;

• Marshalltown High School: Family and consumer sciences, Bridget Diveney, Madysen Wall and Sandra Tracy; special education, Allison Burchland and Katherine Hazelwood; ELL, Jacob Olson and Heden Perez; science, Ranen Spies and Catheryne Swann; English/language arts, Ryan Boley and Amanda Ewing; Business, Amy Baumfalk; Spanish, Rebeka Bell; industrial technology, Calvin Dale; social studies, Colton Hanke; math, Jill Scanlan; family and consumer sciences and physical education, Jeffrey Kline. Kline will spend half of his time in the high school and the other half at Marshalltown Learning Academy.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.