Category: Schools
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OPINION: Promotion, autonomy, compensation are factors in Dakota teacher shortage
by Jeff Fastnacht, superintendent, Ellendale (N.D.) School District The need for teachers has been a reoccurring topic in both South Dakota and North Dakota for several years. It was thought to be more significant in South Dakota, and that may be so, but according to a recent story in The Fargo Forum, it is a…
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Educators go extra miles to keep programs on the road
Splitting their time between classrooms in school districts even a few miles apart takes extra planning for teachers, but might be one answer to South Dakota’s teacher shortage.
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Join us for the next Dakotafire Café in Miller, S.D.
Our next Dakotafire Café event will be in Miller, S.D., where we gather in conversation around the topic of youth empowerment. This is the last event that is part of the Prairie Idea Exchange, a grant-funded projected intended to share fruitful, community-building ideas across northeastern South Dakota and beyond. Read on as Tammy Caffee, executive director…
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Bridging educational gaps with distance education
The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students has identified distance education as one solution to South Dakota’s teacher shortage, but experts say it’s not a fail-proof solution.
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Mothers can bring experience to classrooms through ‘encore careers’
by Anna Jauhola and Wendy Royston, Dakotafire Media Perhaps the answer to South Dakota’s teacher shortage doesn’t lie in recruiting this year’s high school seniors to the profession or retaining next year’s education grads within our borders. Maybe the answer is sitting in homes and in offices throughout our state, already engaging with youth. “Being…
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Changing the way we educate educators could be one answer
By Tasi Livermont, for Dakotafire with additional reporting by Doug Card, The Britton Journal and Wendy Royston, Dakotafire Media Should future teachers have to spend as much time sitting in desks to earn the right to stand at the front of class? Some think the answer to South Dakota’s teacher shortage at least partly lies…
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Some S.D. schools have given up on filling teacher vacancies
By Tasi Livermont, for Dakotafire with additional reporting by Doug Card, The Britton Journal; Jody Moritz, Faulk County Record; and Wendy Royston, Dakotafire Media With a hope and a prayer, school districts across South Dakota attempted to fill vacant teaching positions this year. “I must have prayed really hard,” said Monte Nipp, Langford (S.D.) Area…
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Consolidated celebrations bring new traditions
Editor’s Note: See related story here. by Wendy Royston, Dakotafire Media with additional reporting by Sheila Ring, Onida Watchman; Kim Ehlers, Standard Publishing; and Ken Schmierer, for the Dickey County Leader Consolidations of schools and sports teams are common across both Dakotas, and they often change the way homecoming unfolds in those schools and communities.…
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Homecoming could have a stronger call to ‘come home,’ expert says
Editor’s Note: See related story here. by Wendy Royston, Dakotafire Media with additional reporting by Sheila Ring, Onida Watchman, and Ken Schmierer, for The Dickey County Leader The word “homecoming” suggests the original intent of the fall celebrations was to bring graduates—and the focus of the community—back to the school. In many towns today, that…
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Bus drivers aren’t ‘all aboard’ in many Dakota school districts
Though school districts throughout the Dakotas are diverse in many ways, troubles recruiting and retaining bus drivers are not unique. “Every place I’ve worked at, we’ve dealt with issues with buses (and) transportation,” said 22-year superintendent Terry Eckstaine, who presently works in the Ethan, (S.D.) School District.