In Switch, Oregon Districts Work to Lure Teachers

By Maya Blackmun, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Apr. 4–Hunting for a job at the Oregon Professional Educator Fair on Tuesday was quite a different experience for Hans Davis compared with his job search seven years ago.

Then, the economy was softer and some school districts were laying off teachers. There weren’t many takers for Davis’ new master’s degree specializing in speech and communication. He ended up with a job at a private alternative school in Medford, a great experience but with meager pay.

But with Oregon’s K-12 funding looking brighter in the 2007 Oregon Legislature and a new endorsement in special education from Southern Oregon University, Davis’ job prospects are strong.

“Now everybody wants me,” Davis said. “It feels good.”

Davis joined about 2,700 other educators checking out the possibilities of 231 educational employers at the annual job fair at the Oregon Convention Center in Northeast Portland.

Jim Buck, executive director of the Oregon School Personnel Association and fair coordinator, said the common refrain again this year is that school districts are especially in need of speech pathologists, special education teachers and math and science specialists.

Lu Biado, director of licensed personnel for the Hillsboro School District, said the search for teachers of advanced mathematics was getting tough as Oregon has increased diploma requirements.

While the number of job seekers was about the same as in 2006, the number of recruiters and the optimism of those from Oregon was up sharply, Buck said. For the first time the fair had to turn away some school districts wanting a booth because there wasn’t enough room, despite expanding from last year.

The fair drew school districts from as far away as North Carolina, Alaska, Hawaii and Texas, where a coalition of Dallas-area districts was seeking to fill 6,000 positions.

George Gonzalez, a recruitment specialist for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said the nation’s second-largest school district has come to the Oregon fair for many years because they find the state’s teachers well prepared. The district was offering a $17,000 signing incentive for special education teachers and $15,000 for those in math and science.

Oregon public school districts are still in the process of adopting their budgets and many are unsure of the exact number of new positions they might have. But district officials are hopeful about state funding, and some anticipate enrollment growth.

“It’s a pleasant position to be in,” said Janell Black, director of special services for the Gresham-Barlow School District.

Davis hopes to join a public school district in southern Oregon but was checking out others from around Portland and Salem along with the Lummi Nation Native American school system in Washington.

Chatting at the Salem-Keizer School District booth, he learned there were a lot of openings and told the recruiter:

“You wouldn’t have told me that in 2000 when I graduated.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

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