With teaching shortages happening across the country and here in Iowa, one local high school was feeling that pressure right before the school year started.

Greene County High School Principal Brian Phillips tells Raccoon Valley Radio they were on the hunt to find a third science teacher when the School Board officially hired Sarah Schultz from the Woodward-Granger School District at their August meeting. Phillips says they had plans to run the science department with two people, but they lucked out with Schultz.

“She actually applied for the home school liaison position and our superintendent caught that she had some science experience and said, ‘You might want to give her a call.’ I did that and got to talk to her for a while and gave her a tour of the building. And this new building did help make her decision which was pretty awesome. Just so very glad to have her on board. So we have our science department up to three people again.”   

Phillips points out the hiring pool has become more difficult and to help alleviate some of those issues, they are offering some new classes with Deb Marquardt teaching three education specific courses, including intro to education, exceptional learner and field experiences in education.

“So if we could grow some of our own teachers or at least kind of get some of the students to think that the field of education is a good place to have a career and exciting and fun, then we’re going to have a better chance of finding teachers in the future. So I’m real  

Phillips adds there were some other new hires for this school year, including math teacher Kyle Staudacher, special education teacher Victoria Anderson and special education associate Wade Adcock.