How is Southern Idaho working to keep teachers?
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT)  In the most recent session of the Idaho Legislature, many conversations centered around education and keeping teachers in the Gem State. Putting you first, KMVT wanted to know how teacher retention rates were after a year of a pandemic. Last summer, the Twin Falls School District said they only had around 35 job openings. Officials say this was most likely due to nobody wanting to move during the pandemic. Now this summer things are looking a little different, were back up to what is probably closer to normal numbers, said Twin Falls School District Public Information Specialist Eva Craner  Craner said there are now about 75 positions available, in a district featuring more than 500 teaching positions. The Castleford school district is a fraction of that size, with 23 teachers. In order to improve teacher retention rates that were low a year ago, a move to a four-day school week was made. This year, they have a retention rate of 91%, officials said. We do know that weve received applications and we have current teachers that have been hired because of that, said Castleford School District Superintendent Dena Allred. Its working in Castleford currently, but for rural districts, its a constant struggle. Across Idaho, however, every single rural district, we see that same kind of a teacher shortage, said Christina Linder, director of non-traditional education at the College of Southern Idaho (CSI). CSI and Lewis and Clark State College now have an agreement to help try and combat this issue. Individuals can finish a bachelors degree at Lewis and Clark without having to leave the Magic Valley. Were kind of reverse-engineering the problem, going right into those districts, identifying community members that are already passionate about their communities, that are already invested in their communities and providing them with the opportunity to become teachers, Linder said. Copyright 2021 KMVT/KSVT. All rights reserved.