NE WISCONSIN (WTAQ-WLUK) – School districts in Northeast Wisconsin are making progress filling positions that have been open since the summer.
Some districts started with more than 60 open positions.
More than four weeks into the school year, the Oshkosh Area School District continues to hire.
In August, the district needed 20 classroom teachers. It still needs 19.
Superintendent Bryan Davis tells FOX 11 they have substitutes filling the gaps.
“We are making progress, but we are not where we need to be, but I would say certainly at a level where we can successfully function for our students.”
The district is using various strategies to promote the positions.
“Through WECAN, our application process, through some of our social media outlets… we have been working closely with UW-Oshkosh and looking at clinical students to be able to help substitute and help paraprofessional roles,” says Davis.
The Appleton Area School District also faced a teacher shortage this year.
“A positive situation that our enrollment went up late in the summer, but then that poses some challenges for us in finding staff members,” says Appleton Area School District Superintendent Greg Hartjes.
But they have made progress. Appleton started with 22 educator positions open; they are now down to 17.
The Green Bay Area Public School District says that this year was very similar, if not better, than most years in regards to staffing.
Like Oshkosh, they are also trying to be creative with recruitment.
“We have done a lot this year with social media, whether it’s paid Facebook and Instagram ads, or just posting on our school sites. We actually sent emails out to all of the parents of the schools,” says Green Bay Area Public School District Director of Communications Lori Blakeslee.
Green Bay started the school year with 12 teacher positions open and are down to seven.
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