Eastern Iowa's educators discuss possible solutions for state-wide teacher shortage
On Thursday, Senator Liz Mathis hosted a roundtable discussion with members of education from Linn-Mar and Marion Independent school districts.
On Thursday, Senator Liz Mathis hosted a roundtable discussion with members of education from Linn-Mar and Marion Independent school districts.
The goal was to address the teacher shortage in Iowa so the challenges can be presented during the upcoming legislative session in Des Moines.
17 people sat on the roundtable. Those included principals, teachers, superintendents, and school board members.
Amanda Freese is a teacher in the Marion Independent School District. She said herself and many others are in survival mode.
“None of us should be looking at a profession that's about the future thinking, I can make it one more year," said Freese.
The Iowa State Education Association reported both the number of teachers retiring and teachers leaving the profession entirely is up 15%.
Linn-Mar Superintendent Shannon Bisgard said the district is seeing the impact in the hiring process.
“We’ve all seen the challenge to hire staff. The candidate pool is definitely diminishing at every level," said Bisgard, "it used to be we had hundreds and hundreds of applicants at the elementary level, now we're seeing 30 to 50."
In a field of future thinking, Coy Marquardt with the Iowa State Education Association involves letting students know teaching can be their future.
The group discussed future training for high school students to become para-educators before graduation.
“Things that we don’t do very well I thin,k is really talking to our students in k-12 about a career in education. We set up all these programs for other things like business and ag and medical," said Marquardt.
Another solution from Marion Superintendent Janelle Brouwer, is paying student teachers. The inability has created barriers for aspiring teachers.
“Why would you pursue teaching later in life? Nobody can afford to go to school and quit a job for a semester to pay and do a job for a semester," said Brouwer.
There is also the idea of cutting down on the training requirements for teachers to teach new subjects. Linn-Mar teacher Deborah Barry said that requires hours of training, regardless of experience.
“Seeing some of those endorsement rules being lessened or lightened. Picking some of that up so you could help maybe fill a need that your school district has vs going to college and taking 20 hours," said Barry.
Senator Mathis will be hosting two additional roundtables.
- Saturday, November 13, 9:00-11:00, West Delaware Community School District. 605 North New Street, Manchester, IA 52057
- Monday, December 6, 4:00-6:00, Howard-Winneshiek Community School District. 1000 Schroder Dr., Cresco, IA 52136
