Wausau School District Dodges Worst of Teacher Shortage

Monday, August 29th, 2022 -- 12:00 PM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) According to Mike Leischner of WSAU, Wausau School Superintendent Keith Hilts says so far his district seems to have dodged the worst of the teacher shortage situation, as he doesn't expect they will start the year this Thursday in any sort of panic mode.

"It changes daily, so I don't want to take a guess at numbers, but it's certainly a small number of teaching staff we need." He says they happened to get lucky with a couple of recent hires. "We were very fortunate to hire a really nice candidate that's returning to the workfoce from a previous teaching assignment, so we were really happy to reconnect with them."

He says because of their pay scale and other factors the district has become a destination for those who want to make their way in education. "We offer a lot of support. Good paying benefits. Great area. So, there's a number of reasons why we're attractive to employees."

He says the district does have some stop-gaps in place if they need to fill a classroom for a longer period. "We have a number of really high quality substitute teachers who are often willing to take on a longer assigment, maybe a half a year, until we get a mid-year graduate, sometimes our recent retirees are able to put in some hours"

Hilts says anyone who might want to get in on the upcoming school year in any sort of position, teaching or support staff, can always see the district's current vacancies on their website. Some districts both statewide and nationally have reported shortages of nearly 100 workers just weeks before students are set to return to the classroom.

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