GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – School districts across Northeast Wisconsin are having a hard time finding support staff for this upcoming school year.
Support staff includes custodians, teachers’ aides and lunchroom workers.
This has some officials concerned about the impact shortages in these areas will have on students and teachers.
Many job openings and a tight labor market are causing a nightmare scenario for employers all over the country.
And public schools in Northeast Wisconsin aren’t immune.
Green Bay Area School District Chief Operations Officer Josh Patchak is still questioning why it’s hard to attract workers.
“This is much more challenging than years prior.”
“What’s really the driving force on why it’s hard getting talent?” FOX11 asked.
“That’s a good question, and I think we’d all like to know the answer to that,” Patchak added. “This doesn’t seem to be industry specific,”
He says pay for these support positions ranges from $17 to $20 per hour.
Patchak say the shortage has led the school district to take some measures it hasn’t done before.
“We’ve actually taken the strategy of directly contacting parents of children at particular schools, saying we have these positions open. And we have had a lot of success with that.”
The Wisconsin Education Career Access Network’s website shows 96 full- and part-time open support staff positions for Green Bay Schools.
They range from food service workers to monitors for buses and classrooms.
It’s something that could impact teachers.
“Normally, they would have a monitor taking care of supervising those students while the teachers are taking their break,” said Patchak. “Well, now the teacher has to fill in at the lunch room, and some teachers may not get a lunch break during the day or even a bathroom break.”
The issue continues with the Oshkosh Area School District.
Director of Curriculum and Assessment Julie Conrad says pay is competitive. WECAN shows pay ranging from $15 to $21 dollars hour.
“We’re having challenges finding and attracting talent,” Conrad said.
The district has around 30 support staff positions to fill. And Conrad says that’s a stark contrast to years past.
“Prior to COVID, we would have a majority of our positions filled, and very few would go to substitute or back up plans to cover it differently. The last two years have really been a challenge, so this is probably the first year we’ve had this many openings.”
A majority of Oshkosh schools’ positions are full-time.
Conrad says a plan is in place to make sure things run smoothly in the short term, but the plan is to hire more full-time employees as soon as possible.
Find open positions in the Green Bay Area Public school District.
