Dylan Brogan
Superintendent Carlton Jenkins calls the district's first "Signing Day" a success.
Facing a shortage of teachers, officials with the Madison school district laid on the charm Thursday night to persuade student teachers to work for the district next fall. The Feb. 24 event — billed as the inaugural “Staff Signing Day” — was an upbeat affair with food, a DJ, and performances from La Follette and West high schools’ dance teams.
The purpose of the shindig was to get nearly graduated future teachers to sign “intent to hire” contracts. Although the contracts are not binding, Superintendent Carlton Jenkins compares the new recruitment strategy to National Signing Day, the first day high school athletes are eligible to commit to collegiate sports teams.
“It’s a pandemic. We had to do something different,” Jenkins tells reporters at the event, held at the district's Holtzman building. “We said, ‘Why can't we sign professionals early?'”
One hundred and fifteen soon-to-be-licensed teachers signed early contracts to work for the district next school year. Those who signed will still have to go through the usual application and placement process and a job is contingent on the student teachers finishing their education.
Terriun Green, who will graduate from UW-Stevens Point this spring, is student teaching this year at Madison East High School, his alma mater.
“This is perfect for me and a great gateway to get a job with the district. I have enjoyed student teaching at East and this really puts my mind at ease,” says Green. “I wanted to stay in Madison and this feels like I already got my foot in the door.”
Historically, the district doesn’t get serious about hiring for the fall semester until May or June. Jenkins says the idea for a “Signing Day” event came about in January.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. These are the toughest times in my 30 plus years in education. We wanted to flip the script on the way we attract the next generation of educators,” Jenkins says. “Normally during the hiring process, [the district] is asking all the questions. The event tonight gave student teachers already versed in our vision to ask us questions and get to know us a little bit more informally.”
A number of principals were on hand to encourage student teachers to sign early contracts, including Cherokee Middle School’s Anuradha Ebbe.
“I’ve been with the district for 25 years and have never seen anything like this before,” says Ebbe. “This is all about building community and showing our student teachers we intend on supporting them as they start their careers in education.”
Madison Teachers Inc. was invited to participate in the event, too. Mchael Jones, president of the teachers union, said he was impressed by the positivity of the event.
“It’s a step in the right direction if it doesn’t stop here,” Jones says. “I hope the effort shown to celebrate these soon-to-be teachers here tonight will extend to teachers who are in their fifth, 10th and 20th year with the district.”
MTI predicts a “record-setting” number of retirements and resignations at the end of this semester. Isthmus’ February cover story, “A perfect storm,” focused on the shortage of teachers and ongoing issues with educators feeling unsupported by the school board and district leadership.
“The district hasn’t put out the final number. But just based on how many teachers have left mid-year, we expect a lot of turnover,” Jones says. “It’s great to have this kind of celebration. But I hope we can also talk about infrastructure and how we're providing structures to make sure every teacher is getting what they need when it comes to planning time and the nitty gritty things that every worker deserves.”
Jenkins calls “Signing Day” a success and says the district intends on holding similar events in the future. The superintendent also says this “is just the beginning.”
“This is all about creating a supportive culture for our teachers and will be coupled with mentoring programs and professional development,” says Jenkins. “Given all the challenges that public education faces, we need to rethink how we do things. What we heard tonight is that these newly graduated or almost graduated teachers love working in our schools. We intend on keeping as many of them as we can.”
