Lake County Gazette

The Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103 Board of Education held a meeting Sept. 27 to discuss recruiting new teachers.

The board learned that while the internal job fair was successful last year, the external job fair did not gain any interest. The district has some contacts at local colleges and is hoping to catch a mid-year graduate to help out for a period of time, as well as start advertising the district's improved pay rates and flexibility.

“What we've done in the past is contract with another agency to do that (recruit teachers),” Superintendent Scott Warren said during the meeting. “Generally they do have ... someone that's top dollar that we pay, but that's what we'll need to do if we can't hire somebody on our own.”

As of the September board meeting, there were still several positions open in the district. There are two special ed positions at Sprague. There is a secretarial position, some associate guided positions, and some future leaves of absence positions open at Daniel Wright Junior High. The district is also looking for a 6-8 learning specialist, an adaptive PE instructor, and a stipend-funded music director for the musical.

The district recently put effort into learning why people chose to leave the district when they resigned. Recently, one resignation was actually a move into another position in the district, while another left education to work in the medical field. It was noted that many of the people who do leave are looking for higher pay, though the district has better retention now than in years previous.

Regarding the district’s enrollment, the board’s agenda noted the district teaches approximately 1,000 students from K-8.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 in the district administrative office on 111 Barclay Boulevard, Suite 100 in Lincolnshire.