School District of Superior is facing staff shortages before school year

The 2022-2023 school year will begin for many schools, the School District of Superior begins next Monday.

As kids prepare for classes, Superior schools are struggling with hiring more faculty.

The School District of Superior need more substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and other support staff.

Amy Starzecki, the Superior School District Administrator, talked more about why so many schools are struggling with hiring.

“In Superior. We’ve worked on a couple of things. One is we really work hard to try to offer a competitive salary so we compete against neighboring districts. But the second thing we do is we try to create an environment where people want to come and people want to stay to work. Obviously, working with students, that’s not necessarily an option here.” Starzecki said.

One of the reasons why Superior is having this problems is because of private schools.

Private schools typically offer higher salaries, and being able to work from home remotely.

Although there are some great benefits to becoming a substitute teacher for the public School District of Superior.

“We work to create different types of incentives for attracting substitutes. Like if they work so many days, they get a bonus. And that’s a good way to give back to your community. It’s a good way to have the same schedule as your child. It gives you flexibility as well. You can choose to work some days and not other days. The qualifications to become a suburb very minimal and so many people qualify.” Starzecki said.

Many schools in Superior only require a valid substitute teaching license, to be a substitute teacher.

Being a substitute teacher in Superior, does not require a college degree, but it is recommended to have some background in teaching.

Staffing has not been the only issue for the school district of superior.

Recently the superior middle school has implemented a no backpack and no cellphone rule.

“Several years we’ve tried really hard to create procedures in our classrooms where students and teachers work together to create guidelines around how and when cell phones can be used. But that continues to be a struggle. Younger ages and in the middle school level really struggle to manage those devices, and they tend to be a significant disruption to learning.” Starzecki said.

The no backpack and no cellphone rule is to try help students talk more and improve mental health. Phones distract from learning and can harm their social skills.