Hallway at Green Bay West High School March 8, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — As July comes to end and the new school year approaches, district across the country, including in Northeast Wisconsin, are looking to fill open positions.
While districts have contingency plans in place, the goal is to have as many positions filled by the time the first bell rings.
With just weeks to go until the 2023-2024 school year begins, the push is on to fill open positions — everything from janitors and cooks to teachers and classroom aides.
The Green Bay Area Public School District currently has more than 170 jobs to fill.
“We have fall sports, we have fall co-circular activities like assistant director of the musical. We have part-time positions that are for hourly roles that are in food service or monitors. We have paraprofessional positions, so that number looks large on paper but we’re really sourcing for a variety of roles that people play in the district,” says Mike Freeze, executive director of human resources with GBAPS.
Green Bay isn’t alone, other districts in our area need to hire too. Appleton has nearly 90 openings, Oshkosh has 65, and Manitowoc has close to three dozen.
It’s a problem districts have found themselves dealing with for years, but one that has ramped up since the pandemic. According to Freeze, “While the summer is always a busy time for school districts with hiring teachers as they transition from one year to the next, we definitely have seen a larger number of openings over the last five or ten years frankly in education.”
And with every district looking to fill positions, districts are getting creative with how they market themselves.
The Pulaski Community School District recently took to social media with a post about its openings.
The Oshkosh Area School district is hosting a job fair, with on-site interviews, on August 16, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the OASD Administration Office (215 S Eagle Street, Oshkosh).
Green Bay is publicizing its openings on boards, at places like the Green Bay Farmers’ Market, and soon it will be using kiosks, in schools, where visitors can apply on the spot.
Those tactics are only the beginning.
Freeze says, “We try to figure out, what does the market tells us? What is not only the going rate when it comes to compensation, salary and benefits but are there incentives or a referral bonus program or retention bonus? So, we are definitely looking into what we can activate.”
Green Bay says it’s dipped it toes into incentive programs over the past couple of years but could add more moving forward.
Because, with just weeks until teachers and school staff report, hiring is happening and plans are in place to make sure there are qualified people, in school buildings — teaching, feeding, mentoring and coaching kids.
“ It is not time to start panicking. We have a lot of folks that are also already in process. We sometimes don’t close down a posting until we have that signed, sealed, and delivered. We’ve got contingency plans in place, and we’re interviewing every day and we encourage anybody interested in making a difference in kid’s lives to apply right now because we can find a good fit for you,” adds Freeze.
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