(Havre) – With the amount of teachers in need across the state and the country, New Media Broadcasters sat down with Brian Gum the Superintendent of Havre Public Schools to talk about how bad the lack of educators is.
“From a national standpoint, we’re seeing drastic teacher shortages throughout the country. A lot of different states they’re recording record numbers of teachers that are no longer in the field due to a variety of reasons. Montana has been affected drastically as well, you know, some stats from our state would be in the 2022-23 year there were 492 Elementary field 259 special education openings and 188 mathematics teacher openings that were not filled a lot of these are due to just the demands of the job where you saw the over demands and the burdens placed on our teaching staff. I think a variety of factors has made it feel like an over difficult situation.”
He continues by answering the question of how these shortages are affecting Havre.
“They definitely have in the past we were down the year previous, so numbers that we couldn’t fill all year in Havre. We’re excited this year as we kick off. I think Brad Moore did an excellent job really going out and recruiting and retaining great employees for our school district. This year we’re going to jump out and start the school year being fully staffed with 18 new employees working for us so that’s tremendous where you see right now that have gaps, they can’t fill and consequently they’re looking at online options which I feel like isn’t the best for our kids.”
He also talks about how the school system is incentivizing teachers to come back to school.
“I know our state is trying to incentivize different opportunities to bring teachers out of the general workforce into our field. We do a lot within our CTE programming with ways the teachers, for instance, could work in the construction area and then move into actually obtaining teaching licenses. So, we’re finding ways to incentivize that. I think in Havre, we have a very competitive salary benefit schedule, which definitely helps and moves teachers into our programming as well as with our new schedule. I think the four-day week is going to you know hopefully not only benefit our students and families but also keep our highly qualified personnel excited in coming to work here in Havre and being in front of our kids which is our number one priority.”
He continues by talking about how hard it is to hire new staff.
“It is difficult right now, right, I mean I think you see that not only in the schools though I think you see that across the board in terms of all job areas. You can name it; you can go to anywhere that’s out there and currently there’s a lot of openings to find. I know in visiting with our police chief we had some openings here in Havre, they’re trying to fill some more officers. If you look at any of the local clinics or job opportunities that are out there most people are short employees right now and I think that’s a trend we’ve seen since covid-19 in terms of trying to get the nation and people back to work. So, I think the shortage kind of relates to just what we’re seeing across the nation in all jobs not just necessarily education.”
Gum goes on by talking about how they plan on retaining students with the teacher shortage.
“You know I think with just the levels of programming that we’re doing within our schools we’re making it feasible. There’s a lot of different ways for kids now, particularly, like in high school to get to diplomas and graduate. I think we’re offering a variety of exciting elective options for students when they’re in the schools. I think our teachers are doing a great job of incentivizing interesting lessons and ways for students and families to come into our buildings and see what we’re doing. Just different ways for kids to connect within our school district.”
He finishes by giving his final thoughts on the teacher shortage.
“I think it’s one that we’re addressing right on the front lines here in Havre but the national teacher shortage is one that’s an issue Across the Nation I don’t think it’s one that’s unique to education though I think if you look at any workforce that’s out there whether that’s police, fire, independent businesses everybody’s having a difficult time retaining highly qualified employees. So, it’s one from a country standpoint we need to continue to come up with solutions.”
