T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Numerous 2025-26 teachers gather inside the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center for a welcome back event before the start of school on Thursday. The Marshalltown Community School District has managed to buck the teacher shortage indicated by a state hiring hub website.

Earlier this week, the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) Teach Iowa online hiring hub had 638 teaching positions ready to be filled in school districts across the state, indicating a teacher shortage. A significant portion of the vacancies are for specific teaching positions, such as science, English, world languages, music and special education.

Fortunately, the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) is bucking the statewide trend. MCSD Director of Human Resources Jacque Wyant said the district has not had problems filling teaching roles, largely due to a proactive approach.

On Nov. 1, 2024, she reported to the Iowa DOE that MCSD had 11 special education openings. As of Aug. 20, there were only five remaining openings. According to Wyant, MCSD already had strong candidate pools for teaching positions this year.

“We were very proactive in finding out from some colleges what kind of alternative pathways they have for people getting endorsements,” she said. “Particularly in special ed because the district is willing to pay up to $10,000 for a special education endorsement.”

Wyant stressed that an endorsement is not a master’s degree, which the district does not help pay for. The district also offered a couple jobs to people enrolled in a college’s two-year alternative teacher licensure program.Usually the people in the program already have a bachelor’s degree in another pertaining field.

Wyant traveled to various locations to college job fairs, even northern Missouri and Sioux Falls, S.D. Attending a teacher conference in northwest Iowa was also on the table, and she was able to talk to some teacher interns.

“That’s like student teaching on the job,” she said. “Unlike student teaching, where they work for free.”

Wyant was able to hire some students in the RAPIL (Regents Alternative Pathway to Iowa Licensure) program, which is for adults who are making a career change. She added that they almost always say “yes” to any college wanting to place student teachers in MCSD.

“There’s a dual purpose to that,” Wyant said. “We need people to understand what Marshalltown is all about. We don’t want them to continue their perception of what they have heard of Marshalltown.”

In the middle of the 2024-25 school year, she hired a few student teachers who graduated early as full-time substitutes. Wyant said as a result of their experience and getting to know the environment and coworkers, they knew about the teaching openings. They have all been hired.

“It’s fun as a district to be able to support folks in finding their passion in education in alternative ways,” she said.

Now the trick, Wyant said, is to make employees feel valued so they want to stay and the district doesn’t lose great employees. If enrollment stays the same, she wants them to stay at MCSD and take advantage of opportunities for career advancement.

“We are proud to say, human resources’ mission is to provide great customer service where people feel valued, no matter their role in the district,” Wyant said. “We don’t care if you’re a bus driver, a para, a bus monitor, food service, whatever. For example, the bus drivers and monitors are the first people to see the kids in the morning, and that interaction can make or break a day.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.