The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

The crisis of a teacher shortage in Montana continues to reach epidemic proportions, particularly in rural Montana. Just last week as I looked at OPI Teacher Placement site where most schools in Montana advertise open teaching positions, there were over 635 new job listings in the last 90 days. I think it is safe to say that there are not that many new graduates in our university system to fill those positions. Today we rarely get applicants for any teaching jobs in our rural schools. 10 years ago the perspective teachers came to us and filling positions was a much simpler task. For most jobs there were plenty of applicants to choose from. Even hard to fill positions such as Special Ed, Math, and CTE teachers had some applicants. Today, all of us rural school administrators have to spend a great deal of time finding quality people to just apply at our schools. For most of our jobs we feel very fortunate to get one qualified applicant for our jobs. Just getting them to apply is one challenge, but the greater challenge is getting them to accept a job if offered one in our Hi-Line region.

There are many reasons that may have contributed to the shortage of teachers, such as salaries, public perception of schools, federal mandates, increased accountability and pressures to perform. Regardless of what the factors are that have led to this shortage we are in a crisis situation and we need to do what we can to help fix the problems as soon as we can.

A couple of colleagues in the area and I have spent this school year pleading our case about the teacher shortage in Montana to our local university leaders and the Montana University System Board of Regents. Our concerns were heard as we were placed on the Board of Regents agenda to have a panel discussion with them about the teacher shortage and how we can work together and do what we can to help solve this problem. On May 20th at the Board of Regents meeting, in a packed room at MSU-Northern, we had our discussions with the Board of Regents. We were scheduled to have 20 minutes with the Regents but when they realized the concerns we had, we were given extra time. For an hour and 15 minutes we answered questions and discussed possible solutions. This was a huge step in bringing attention and awareness to this crisis we are facing. I would like to thank Renee Rasmussen, the superintendent from Bainville, and Havre superintendent Andy Carlson for serving with me on this panel.

Besides the limited availability of new graduates, there is another major factor that is affecting the recruitment and retaining of teachers in Big Sandy and it is something we can’t control. As we told the Board of Regents, our geographic location is a major barrier for recruiting and retaining teachers for all of rural Montana.

I can promote all the great things about my school system and community and it is easy to convince new graduates that Big Sandy school would be a great place to start a teaching career. Plus we have taken steps to make our school more attractive to new teachers, such as very competitive salary schedule, excellent health benefits and a 4 day school week. Those incentives get people to look at my school but what I can’t control is the 260 miles that separates me from the other major universities in Montana.

So where do we go from here? As we discussed with the Board of Regents, it is vitally important to our schools in the Hi-Line to be able to hire teachers who have ties to the area. Having MSU-N in our area is a plus in that regard, but they only turn out a fraction of the teachers needed in the area. Also, we have to continue as a school and community to promote all the good things in our community and surrounding area. The Hi-Line area is unique and not everyone can adapt to its rural nature and location, and sometimes a person has to spend some time in very remote regions of this state to truly appreciate everything Big Sandy has to offer.

So as new teachers move to the area this summer we want to continue to sing the praises of all the great things the Big Sandy community and school has to offer, and together we can do our part in our little corner of the world to help recruit and retain quality teachers for our school system. There is no easy solution nor do I have the answer to solve the problem, but I am committed to doing what I can to help our region put a dent in the teacher shortage.

If you would like to see our discussions with the Board of Regents you can access the video at https://mus.edu/board/meetings/Video/default.asp or you can find the link on the Big Sandy Schools webpage.