Ronan hires staff by the dozen

RONAN – The Ronan School District Board of Directors hired seven extra-curricular leaders and five school staff members at its regular monthly meeting Nov. 10.

Doug Fisher was hired as high school assistant girls basketball coach and Jim Blow was hired as the middle school tennis coordinator.

Those men join middle school girls basketball coach Danica Luedkte; middle school assistant girls basketball coach Angie Redstar and middle school assistant girls basketball coach Crystal Matt, who were hired at the October board meeting.

Brian Youngren will head up the middle school yearbook program as well as the robotics program. Stephanie Swigart will be the middle school Academic Bowl coach.

In October, the district hired Michael McCrea as food services assistant cashier; Lori Walter as food services assistant cook; Amanda Mays as special education paraprofessional; and Camille Delaurenti as Ronan Middle School secretary. In October the district hired food service assistant cook Jessica Weber; paraprofessional Roxanna Buhrig and special education paraprofessional Kimberly Sprow.

Though a potential substitute teacher list was submitted for approval Nov. 10, Ronan Superintendent Andy Holmlund said getting substitutes to apply and show up for work is harder than it seems.

“You take a look at businesses like Auto Zone and Walmart (who pay about the same as substitute teachers) there are plenty of job opportunities here.”

Substitutes

The need for substitute teachers was a topic of discussion in October.

Ronan School District Special Services Director Joan Graham began the October board meeting discussion by introducing problems the district faces when getting substitute teachers to apply and then show up for class, according to the Ronan School District October meeting minutes.

Graham shared several spreadsheets that highlight the problem that includes competing job wages.

Though the substitute teacher pay rates are on par with other districts, the problem stems from getting people to apply, and the time-lag between application and processing of those applications.

In the past district personnel substitute taught and staff gave up their prep periods because there was no one to call, the minutes said.

Members of the October discussion brought up the topics of district policy, once-a-month payroll, incentive pay and hour increases for paraprofessionals as potential solutions to the problem.

The district’s challenge in finding substitute teachers lies in a few areas, Holmlund said.

Recruiting and communication are big things.

“In this day and you’d be surprised at how many different communication mechanisms there are,” he said.

In all, the district has to consider finding substitutes for 110 teachers and 35 paraprofessionals that teach in four schools, Holmlund said.

The district does advertise and communicate with college-age teaching programs in Missoula, Great Falls, Havre, Bozeman and Dillan as well as several outlets across the country, he said.

Holmlund said qualifications for substitute teaching in Montana is a person older than 18 years, pass a background check and be of “good moral character.”

Typical turn-around time for a substitute between application and processing is about two weeks, he said.

But that process is not handled on the local level. All teacher processing is done in Helena with the Office of Liscensure and Office of Public Instruction, which leaves personnel on the district level without an avenue in which to pursue faster processing times.

Holmlund said though the average turn-around time is two weeks, a recent bottle-neck of applications has slowed the process recently.

Holmlund turns in his list of eligible substitute teachers for board consideration on a monthly basis.