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