Teachers Are Needed, But Not Here Applicants At Career Fair Have Better Chance Elsewhere

More than a thousand would-be teachers stood in lines Tuesday at the Washington Educator Career Fair waiting to introduce themselves to people with the power to hire them.

Chances of winning a teaching job in the Spokane area are slim for most of the well-dressed job applicants, who squeezed shoulder to shoulder at the Spokane Convention Center.

School district officials expect only a few openings - nowhere near enough to employ the hundreds of graduates pouring out of local teaching colleges.

Eastern Washington University places only about 150 of its 400 education graduates each year, said Steve Spacek, who directs student teachers for EWU.

“Jobs in Spokane are very difficult to get,” Spacek said. “If they’re mobile and not tied to Spokane, their chances are good.”

For those willing to relocate - to Saipan, for example - prospects looked a little better.

Eight teachers from Washington now work in Saipan and the two other islands that make up the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, said recruiter Rita Sablan.

“They come because they want adventure and to see what is on the other side of the world,” she said. “Or because they are not able to find full-time work.”

Killeen, Texas, is hiring, too.

“Needed: 300 teachers,” said the sign at the booth where Assistant Superintendent Ann Farris wooed applicants with a soft Texas drawl.

“We’re near Fort Hood, the largest military base in the world,” Farris said. The district’s growing enrollment (6 percent a year) and the base’s four-year rotation, which robs the schools of military spouses who teach, explains the district’s perennial need for new applicants.

Special education teachers are the exception to the rule.

Washington public schools particularly need occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech-language pathologists.

“Programs for (handicapped) kids are absolutely crying for people,” said Kirby Cleveland, special education director for North Thurston School District.

, DataTimes