Abby Parr
Sugar Beet Staff Reporter
Within the past couple years, there has been a large issue with a shortage of teachers. District wide there are many people looking to fix this problem. Cynthia Leiker, a first year-long term substitute is currently working in the freshmen academy.
Leiker said, “I really like it. My favorite part is watching the kids learn more and improve on their reading,” asking if she would want to eventually be a full time teacher her response was, “ I might in the future, if so I’d like to teach science.” As of now, Leiker doesn’t know how long she will be substituting for.
Head Principal Steve Nordby said that this problem has been occurring for the past four to five years.
“ We do a pretty good job at filling our positions here at the high school, although there are some spots that are harder to find and fill,” he said.
“There is a combination of reasons as to why this is happening. School finance and funding hasn’t always been a top priority, therefor not as many people want to go to school to be a teacher and don’t see it as a career they’d want to go into.”
This is a large reason why a handful of teachers come and go.
Superintendent Steve Karlin said there are about 27 long- term subs in the district right now with some new positions that opened up.
“We have recruited some teachers that are in retirement. Some of them come back and sub for us,” Karlin said.
“Many teachers that we have in the school district come from various different states. At the same time there are problems with them coming and going,” Karlin said.
Due to reasons like having family elsewhere or being further away from where they grew up is part of the reason why some of those individuals don’t stay. Although hiring teachers from this area and in state is something they really try to do first, but at the same time some of the better teachers come from out of state.
This problem has been occurring for a while now, but this year has been a lot better than the previous.
“This is a struggle Garden City has been having since the time I started working for the district. Our turnover is anywhere from 12 to 20 percent and this year it was a lot lower, closer to 12 percent and about 4 percent of our positions are filled with long term subs,” says Karlin.
“This isn’t just a problem here in Garden City, this is a problem across the state and they are working on finding a solution.
Abby Parr is a health academy sophomore you can contact her at parra2@student.gckschools.com
Garden City High School 