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16A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 19, 2015 Polk County Education Hiring spree at CSD means 14 new teachers Central schools fills teachers, staff to pre-recession levels By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer Falls City students pick out new shoes for school, as well as school supplies at Thursday’s “Tools for School.” GEARING UP Students, parents in Falls City get all they need for start of school By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer FALLS CITY — Lincoln King’s face lit up when he looked in the mirror Thurs- day night. An incoming Falls City second-grader just had his hair cut and was liking his new look, grinning at his re- flection. Lincoln, and more than 180 fellow school children, took part in “Tools for School” Thursday at Falls City’s Upper Park. Tools for School is a back-to-school event sponsored by the Sal- vation Army Salem Kroc Corps. With the help of Falls City Christian Church volunteers and professionals, such as the stylists offering haircuts, the event provided more than just backpacks filled with grade-required school supplies. JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer Lincoln King, 7, gets his hair cut on Thursday evening. Parents and students could visit stations offering free clothing, dental screen- ings by Capitol Dental, im- munizations, access to local resource agencies and have dinner donated by Dairy Queen. While their parents made stops at various information tables, the kids had plenty to do with a bouncy house, face painting and other games to play. Falls City resident Iesha Derby brought her daughter, Araydia, 5, to the event to help get her ready for her first year of school. She said financially, the event was “a saving grace” for her family. “It helps with everything. It’s phenomenal,” Derby said as she watched Araydia get her hair cut. “I’m impressed with the amount of volun- teers who take time out of their careers to do this.” This was the third year the Salvation Army has hosted “Tools for School” in Falls City, and the event has grown significantly in that time. “We’ve had about 250 people come through,” said Melissa Baurer, the Salvation Army director of social serv- ices, about 45 minutes be- fore the giveaway ended. “That’s pretty good atten- dance. The first year we had four resource tables. That’s grown to 12 providers this year.” See TOOLS, Page 15A INDEPENDENCE — Central School District has been on a sort of hiring spree before the school year starts Sept. 8. Teachers in the district have increased from 164 last year to 178 this year, said Liisa Zeimantz, human re- sources coordinator. More full-time counselors have been added, as well as more instructional assistants and ad- ministrative assistants. One of the driving factors in the increase is the imple- mentation of full-day kindergarten. Four new kinder- garten teachers were hired; six new instructional assis- tants will be hired to help in those classrooms. It’s a dramatic improvement to five years ago, when the district had just three new hires, McFarland said. “Our numbers are the largest they’ve been,” said Rich McFarland, assistant superintendent. “We’ve more than recouped lost positions that the recession took away from us, primarily with licensed and classified. We have more teachers than we’ve ever had.” It hasn’t been easy, he noted. The district has had to ac- tively recruit candidates to fill positions. “A few years ago, all we had to do was open the door and they came to us,” McFarland said. “This year has been more of a search on our part to try and locate qualified staff. We’re contacting universities to try and secure folks.” Zeimantz said all districts are competing for a small pool of candidates, particularly in bilingual and special education. “Those are very challenging positions to fill,” she said. “Every district is heavily recruiting them.” Teachers are not always in such demand. When the re- cession hit, Central schools had a huge number of appli- cants, but no positions open, Zeimantz said. “Those folks floated away, because of course they need- ed to find employment,” she said. “Now we’re in the re- verse where we — and all the districts — could use that kind of pool. But it’s a cycle.” That cycle of economy versus applicant pool is reac- tionary, McFarland said. Because teachers were in less demand, universities pulled their teacher prep programs, he said. “The number of programs developing teachers is less than it was five years ago, and the demand for teachers is greater,” he said. “The number of people going into the programs has dropped, primarily because of the rumor of it’s not a great field to go into; there’s not the opportunity that folks want, so they steer folks to other directions.” Now, McFarland said, the message is: by the time you finish your program, the jobs will be there. But Zeimantz said that is hard to anticipate. See TEACHERS, Page 15A