MINOT — Minot Public Schools (MPS) is facing a shortage of staff throughout elementary and secondary education schools.
“Everything is hard to fill,” explained Kim Slotsve, assistant superintendent. “The one only thing not on that list is administration…. We will have 17 secondary positions to fill and 14 elementary.”
Of the 31 positions that are vacant, four of them are math teachers, two counselors, seven special education positions, and others throughout various departments.
School board member Miranda Schuler asked what is being done to try to fill the positions.
“We are looking at attending some job fairs for the first time,” said Slotsve. MPS plans to send recruiters to job fairs as far away as Minneapolis to widen the pool of candidates.
Slotsve concluded, “Of course, Minot State is a teacher’s college, and they turn out a lot of educators. I think sometimes we think we have a leg up because so many of them do hours in our classrooms or they student teach with us, but when we start getting competition from Bismarck and Fargo, we need to step up our game too.”
Next week, Slotsve said MPS will be opening and posting the available positions.
MPS special board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 17, at 12 p.m. in the administration building. The next regular meeting was changed to Thursday, March 8 at 4 p.m. in the administration building as well.
