What some local schools are doing to help fill positions

With many schools starting this week and next, local districts are still rushing and hoping to hire in the nick of time.

West Ada School School District, for example, needs to hire 26 full-time teachers, 19 part-time and 64 paraprofessionals across its 58 schools.

And district leaders hope many of those positions can be filled at their career fair the day before class begins.

"We really like the people that are applying. We just need more of those high-quality people," said Greg Wilson, a spokesperson for West Ada.

Their school year begins on Tuesday,

“We would say maybe unlike some of our smaller rural districts, we’re in a pretty good position - that those 26 vacancies we have to make adjustments for, but again, we’re ready for the school year and we’re prepared to cope with those," Wilson said. “There’s gonna be some class size adjustments and in some instances some substitutes to fill that role.”

Paraprofessionals are among the hardest to hire. They usually work one on one with students with the highest need. And right now that extra work often falls on the staff schools already have.

“We are stretched thin, and while they do amazing work, it’s hard. I think we all go home at the end of the day just exhausted. I mean, it's a lot," Kaitlyn Briscoe, a special education teacher at Vallivue School District, said.

She thinks while the solution is multi-faceted, better pay would certainly help, especially for those lower-wage support staff positions.

“It's unfortunate, but you need a paycheck to live, and with the cost of everything else rising, and the job staying the same, it’s a hard job, we have a lot of turnover and there’s not enough pay to keep quality people here,” Briscoe said.

Recently, West Ada upped teacher pay by a little over 6 percent and other staff by about 7 to 20 percent.

Wilson says $15 per hour is the minimum for support staff, but many make more.

Most teachers in the Middleton School District got a raise of more than 7 percent and $1,500 bonuses - with help from state funding.

Middleton's superintendent says their 4-day week also helps attract candidates.

Both say they've improved health insurance benefits. Wilson says for West Ada, savings for a family of four are anywhere from $300 to $500 per month.

“It really constitutes a pay increase across the board,” Wilson said.

West Ada hosts a job fair Monday - just a day before classes begin. If you're interested in maintenance, bus driving, being a school crossing guard, or paraprofessional, they want you to come by the job fair. It's at The West Ada District Service Center - 1303 E. Central Drive Meridian, ID 83642 - in the White Cloud Auditorium from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

"I think some people maybe don't think because they're not a teacher that they can work in a school district, when the reality is, again if you show up to that job fair, and you find something that works, you can be hired on the spot, I mean we need people," Wilson said.

He says many of their openings require just a high school diploma and you passing a background check.

“We really will work with a prospective candidate to figure out a role that suits them, we will train them and we will do our best to employ them close to where they live,” Wilson said.

The district even has a new administrator focusing entirely on recruitment and retention.

He says another draw - you get to impact students' lives.

"The advantage that we have is that you get to work in a school, you get to work for students, you get to support our dedicated educational professionals every day and really make a difference," Wilson said.

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