WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau school Superintendent Keith Hilts says the district has not been immune from the nationwide teacher shortage, but he and his staff also aren’t in panic mode either.
Hilts says the district didn’t get to a point this summer where they were looking at consolidating classes or taking other steps to deal with the situation, but they are still looking to hire good people who want to get into the field of education.
“If you want to be working in a really supportive, positive environment and they want to work with kids, or don’t want to work with kids, we’re a great place to work,” said Hilts. “As is First Student, our bus contractor. we could use all the help if people are interested.”
Hilts adds that the district did get lucky with some of its recent hires including an elementary teacher just last week who fell into their lap. Hilts says they decided to return to the workforce after some time away and happened to be in town already. A robust pool of substitute teachers and those who recently retired also helps them fill long-term substitute needs.
Some districts in the state have reported staffing shortages of 100 or more. While that’s not the case for Wausau, Hilts says they do have a plan in place if the situation were to get that dire.
“We have a number of substitute teachers who are often willing to take on a longer assignment. Maybe half a year until we can get a mid-year graduate. Sometimes recent retirees are willing to put in some hours depending on their annuity status with the state. Worse comes to worse sometimes we can merge classes, but we haven’t had to do that,” said Hilts.
Other topics Hilts discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include the launch of the district’s new mobile app to keep parents and students informed and the progress of some building referendum projects. Hear more on those issues in the video above.
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