As teacher retention and recruitment issues continue throughout the state, Westside Elementary School kindergarten teacher Darci Ostermiller is helping to lay the groundwork for change.

Park County School District 1, has been an exception to the state trend, said Superintendent Jay Curtis, who noted that recruiting and retaining staff has not been an issue for multiple years.

The purpose of the task force is to meet every month to evaluate and discuss the results of a survey sent out to all teachers in the state of Wyoming before sending recommendations to State Superintendent Megan Degenfelder and a second group in May. From here they will determine what problems need to be solved at the district level vs at the state level.

Although PCSD1 has a better outlook than many districts in the state, Curtis said some positions are always harder to fill than others and recruitment issues are looming as fewer college students pursue education careers. He credits PCSD1’s ability to retain staff to “a family first attitude” that allows teachers to take care of themselves and their families first so that they can provide the highest level of care to students. Currently, the district offers all staff money to go to mental and physical health needs.

“Happy and healthy employees are good employees that take care of kids,” Curtis said. 

He said in Wyoming staff often know each other across the state and having satisfied staff who promote the district often helps recruitment.

Curtis also mentioned that while PCSD1 is not the highest paying district in the state it is a high achieving district with competitive pay and he is confident in Powell’s ability to recruit and retain staff.

The state task force studying the issue includes superintendents, a personnel director, a school counselor, principals, teachers, a preservice teacher, previous educators, a parent representative, postsecondary representatives and an industry representative. 

Ostermiller said she was one of over 100 applicants who applied for the chance to have input on the issue. Ostermiller, who was voted Powell’s teacher of the year for 2022, is one of 25 representatives chosen to join the Teacher Retention Task Force.

During the first meeting on Feb. 11, meeting norms and common issues affecting retention and recruitment in the education field were discussed. Ostermiller said topics discussed included lack of public trust due to false information spread on social media, why students are not looking at pursuing a career in education, the difficulty of teacher’s spouses finding jobs, child care for teachers, mental health of teachers, helping teachers feel valued at work, issues with standardized testing and teacher pay. 

“I don’t come to work a day in my life, but I think that a lot of younger people going into the college setting, they’re looking at how much it’s going to cost them for five years of education and then they’re also hearing this narrative that’s not necessarily true,” Ostermiller said. “So another thing that we talked about, is that value as a professional, and I feel really valued here but throughout that room you heard some different circumstances where people did not feel like they were treated as professionals.”

Ostermiller also applauded Park County School District 1 for supporting staff mental and physical health by offering $700 to spend on mental or physical health resources including counseling and gym memberships.

In the meantime, she said work can be done locally to help support teacher recruitment and retention. Ostermiller noted schools and teachers are not perfect and there will always be reasons to complain. She urges parents to talk about the good teachers are doing because kids are listening. She also said teachers can voice what they love about their profession more.