Rural areas struggling to recruit teachers

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff | Tuesday, April 22, 2008

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Mark Braun knows exactly where he's going when he graduates from Black Hills State University - home.

The elementary education major completes his student teaching at the end of May and has a job lined up as a kindergarten teacher in Gregory, his rural hometown with a population hovering near 1,200.

This spring and summer, rural districts will compete to hire teachers like Braun from a shrinking pool of applicants, and will have to make a good pitch because South Dakota ranked last in the nation in teacher pay.

Fortunately, many teachers work for more than just pay.

Braun, for example, relishes the idea of helping children from his hometown, and doesn't have any concerns about his decision.

"Gregory is one of the reasons why I turned out the way I turned out," he said. "I'm excited to go back and be a part of that."

Braun said it would be fine with him if this is the only job offer he ever takes.

"I'm kind of an exception to the rule."

He's right. South Dakota is experiencing a teacher shortage in many subject areas, and those who do stay in the state to teach are not flocking to rural areas. Further, teachers who do start at rural schools might not stick around long, educators say.

A 2007 teacher vacancy report completed by the Department of Education stated that 221 teachers transferred teaching positions to another district within the state, with the trend being rural to urban.

It doesn't help that South Dakota has a reputation for low pay, say many school officials.

Especially West River, districts for the past two years have struggled to compete with those in neighboring Wyoming, flush with money from the energy boom.

A starting teacher in many Wyoming districts can earn $40,000 or more, compared with South Dakota's average of about $27,000.

Of course, that salary may go further than it does in Wyoming.

Braun said the salary at Gregory was something that gave him pause, but he weighed it against the cost of living in a small town.

"People always talk about pay, but at same time I can go home and buy a house for $40,000," he said. "With the cost of living, things pretty well even out."

If teachers do stay here, many head to the suburban areas of Sioux Falls or Rapid City where the pay might be a little bit higher and the teaching load is lighter or more focused.

"We're doing the best that we can do, but I still think it's a tremendous challenge," said Rick Melmer, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Education. "More and more are going to gravitate to larger communities."

Melmer said rural schools might have a harder time recruiting because the quality of life is different in a small town.

New graduates, he said, might be looking for shopping and restaurants and extracurricular activities that are not available in a smaller community.

Melmer said, at some point, teacher shortages affect quality.

"(Schools) do start to suffer," he said.

Especially at the high school level, shortages limit schools' ability to provide students with classes in math, science, foreign language and music, and services such as counseling and speech pathology.

One chance for schools to find good candidates is this Monday's teacher job fair at Black Hills State University.

Nancy Hall, Dean of the College of Education at Black Hills State, said not all school districts that could benefit from being there are able to send someone.

By the time they focus on hiring in the summer, many candidates are off the market.

The number of South Dakota teaching positions that were unfilled at the beginning of the school year grew last year, from 27 in 2005 and in 2006 to 43 in 2007, according to the department of education.

And on top of that, not as many college students are going into the education field now.

According to the South Dakota Board of Regents, 617 students graduated with education majors in 2000 from state universities. In 2006 and 2007, the number was 450 each year. In 2008, the state expects 431 education majors to graduate.

Hall said about 100 students graduate from the education program each year at BHSU.

They don't have trouble finding jobs in a state where more than 38 percent of the current teaching population is over the age of 50, with 251 retirements just last year.

"That's a large group exiting the field," Hall said.

And once a teacher is hired, the work isn't over for the district.

"For some schools, even if they can attract a top-notch teacher, they have to work really hard to keep them," she said.

Julie Ertz, superintendent and elementary principal at New Underwood, said the school is simply not competitive when it comes to salaries. Also, many of the teachers in New Underwood, which has a population of 616, commute the 20 miles from Rapid City, which is hard on budgets with rising gas prices.

"We often lose teachers to surrounding areas," she said.

But what keeps teachers at her school, she said, is the family atmosphere. The 47,000- square-foot building houses elementary through high school grades, with only one teacher per elementary grade.

"We take pride in our school," she said, "and that tends to be appealing."

Challenges are rewarding

The size can also be a challenge, said New Underwood teacher Karen Lynch. She teaches all seventh- and eighth-grade math and science, as well as high school study skills.

"At first it was stressful, it seemed like I was planning the day before each class," she said.

Braun, who will also coach basketball for the Gregory middle school, said it's a challenge he's ready to take on.

"The small schools can't get away with just hiring a teacher; they have to hire someone who can be a teacher/coach/theater director," he said. "It's having to get the most out of your money for each teacher you hire."

Hall at BHSU remembers when she started her education career as a teacher in a rural school district.

"I taught during the day, coached after school, and taught adult education classes in the evenings," she said, adding that it paid off. "It gave me so many experiences."

She recalled hearing from friends in cities like Minneapolis, who were waiting on a long list to get into a classroom to teach.

Within three years, Hall had already moved into an administration position because she was able to "see the big picture" early on in the small community she was in.

Small towns also tend to be welcoming, she added, especially to first-year teachers because the community wants them to stay.

"It's something you don't get anywhere else," she said.

Pam Gunner, the third-grade teacher at New Underwood, said she vividly remembers a warm welcome in her classroom from the other teachers her first day of class.

"I felt so at home," she said, adding that she'll stay as long as they'll keep her. "I'm it. I got a life sentence."

Not everyone sees their future at a rural school.

Dave Schmidt teaches all high school math classes at the New Underwood school this year.

Like the other teachers, he says he's found a comfortable, flexible environment at the school, where his classroom is only a few feet away from the open door of the principal's office - a fact he loves.

"It's like a big extended family," he said.

But the low pay and his commute from Rapid Valley might be enough to force a change someday, he said.

Hard to hire

For Hermosa Elementary principal Chip Franke, who also oversees hiring for Spring Creek Elementary about 26 miles from Hermosa, geography is  the biggest hurdle to overcome when hiring new teachers.

"It's really rural," he said. "There are no ranch homes for rent, or to buy. There are no apartment complexes."

But, he said, they can offer a kind of quiet that larger schools can't.

"As a district, we have a great staff and student body," he said. "We don't have the behavior problems the inner city has."

That quiet is attractive to Alyssa Blascvyk, a BHSU student completing her student teaching in Belle Fourche.

She's not sure where she'll go to teach next year, but knows she wants it to be in South Dakota.

"I value small towns and this area, the uniqueness of it," she said. "I considered (leaving), but my heart's set here.

"In some ways, I know that South Dakota has some of the best teachers in the country," she said.

"You have to love teaching and you have to really have a passion for it; that's why I want to do it."

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com.