Aspiring teachers found themselves in the driver’s seat at Friday’s teacher recruitment fair sponsored by the Indiana University Northwest School of Education.
Twenty local school districts along with charter and private schools set up tables inside the Savannah Center and eagerly greeted job candidates interested in classroom vacancies for the coming school year.
“It’s still an employee market,” said Reid Amones, executive director of personnel at the Merrillville Community School Corp. “It’s much better, though, then it was four years ago,” he said, referring to the Covid-19 era.
Even though his district needs to fill 25 to 40 jobs in any given year, Amones said he still encourages applicants to think about what’s important to them so they don’t end up unhappy after their first year and the district is left with another vacancy to fill.
To answer some of the candidate’s needs, Amones stresses Merrillville’s lower class sizes, competitive salaries and support services.
“I’m a big believer of doing this job fair every year. Everybody gets a few candidates out it,” he said.
Gary Community School Corp. chief human resource officer Jovanka Cvitkovich answered questions from Danielle Nichols, a Gary resident and Wirt High graduate, about opportunities in the district.
“You’ll be coming into a school city on the rise after seven years under the state. We are looking for individuals who have a passion for the community,” she said.
Honing her sales pitch, Cvitkovich told Nichols a teacher’s starting salary is $50,883 and there’s a $10,000 bonus if a teacher specializes in math, science or special education.
Nichols, an art teacher who lives in Gary, said she’s aware of the district’s situation and recent emergence from state control.
“I’m open to anything, but I did really want to give back to the Gary schools,” she said.
Kasey Brosky, of Portage, a general and special education major, will finish her student teaching at Crown Point’s Solan Robinson May 2 and graduate from IU Northwest May 14.
For now, her top need is simple. “Anywhere close to my house,” she said.
Brosky said student teaching reinforced her belief that teaching is her calling.
“I really like it. Every day is something different and the kids are hilarious. It’s not like a boring office job.”
Brosky visited with representatives from the Duneland School Corp. and learned about job opportunities close to her Portage home.
“It’s always exciting to be out and meeting this new generation of teachers,” said Kevin Zeck, assistant director of teaching and learning in Duneland.
He expects the district of about 5,800 students to need about 25 to 40 teachers next year.
Meanwhile, Indiana, like other states, is still struggling with a teacher shortage. Data from the Indiana Department of Education showed about 2,000 open jobs and more than 6,000 teachers assigned to positions for which they’re not fully certified.
A Senate bill to increase the starting teaching pay from $40,000 to $45,000 has passed the Senate and a House committee as it moves through the General Assembly. A Democratic amendment to increase the starting amount to $65,000 failed.
The bill also requires school districts to spend no less than 65% of state tuition funding on teacher compensation.
Several charter schools from Gary and Hammond also welcomed students.
Justin Stok, superintendent at Charter School of the Dunes in Gary, said he met several good candidates for the five open positions at his schools.
Like the Gary district, Stok said starting pay is $50,000. “We just have to be competitive,” he said.
Charter School of the Dunes opened a preschool for 4-year-olds in August to help increase early literacy skills and it’s been successful, Stok said. Of the 48 slots available for next year, he said 38 are already filled.
Nearby, Katie Kirley, co-founder and executive director at Steel City Charter School in Gary, said her school will have about five openings as staff prepare for their final year at their original location, 2650 W. 35th Ave., south of the Little Calumet River.
Last year, Steel City purchased two shuttered schools — Lincoln and Duncan — for $250,000 from the Gary Community School Corp., marking the first time it’s sold buildings to a charter.
Kirley said a year of extensive renovations at a cost of about $15 million, is beginning this year at Lincoln, 1988 Polk St., where Steel City plans to relocate.
Duncan, at 1109 W. 21st Ave., closed in 2012, will be demolished. The two schools border each other and sold as one parcel.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
