Wanted: Teachers

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Dec 8, 2008 by Barbara Hollingsworth

By Barbara Hollingsworth

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Someday, Erica Tenpenny likely will return to teaching full time.

For now, her days are filled with 4-year-old son Taylor's love of monster trucks and 2-year-old daughter Morgan's doting on her baby dolls. Tenpenny finds life every bit as exhausting as her days as a junior high teacher and coach -- if not more so.

"I have to keep reminding myself, it goes fast," she said.

Stay-at-home moms are just one reason that about 25,000 people are maintaining Kansas teaching licenses while not teaching. It is a figure that looms large in a time of a teacher shortage, especially considering that the state overall has about 41,000 working teachers, according to data collected by the Kansas State Department of Education.

Included in the 25,000 are teachers who have stayed home with children, changed professions, moved on to teach in colleges and relocated to other states.

Some are retirees who maintain a teaching license, while others live in locations where there are still plenty of teachers -- away from the isolated rural areas where shortages are more challenging. Still, many more may have licenses that have lapsed or may have moved to Kansas from other states and haven't become licensed to teach here.

School districts have increased efforts to keep teachers from leaving the profession, but the biggest helping hand in meeting the needs of the teacher shortage may come from the struggling economy.

A teaching license is like a safety valve for many, said Alexa Posny, Kansas education commissioner.

Existing teachers likely will be slower to leave the profession to retire or pursue another career, and more college students may see teaching as a dependable profession to pursue.

"When we have an economic downturn, that's when more people choose to go into education," Posny said. "It's such a stable field."

In Seaman Unified School District 345, the number of staff members who have announced their retirement to take advantage of a district incentive are down, said assistant superintendent Carolyn Orozco.

"I think people are saying maybe I should work a couple more years," she said .

At Auburn Elementary School in Auburn-Washburn USD 347, principal Mark Koepsel has had two teachers leave for other career aspirations before quickly returning to the profession.

Both teachers, he said, were young, and he said those first years as a new teacher can be overwhelming. Their days easily can stretch 10 to 12 hours.

It helps, Koepsel said, that teacher pay has become more competitive. Also important are improvements to the district's mentoring program.

"There is much more built-in support they hadn't had in the past," he said. "I know that has been a big positive push in our district."

Similarly, Posny said, "grow-your-own" programs can be smart investments.

In the programs, districts pick up college expenses, and recipients then commit to work a certain number of years in the districts. Posny said the programs can help assure the recipients stick with the job until they are past what are often the most difficult years.

"It just becomes so much more natural, but it takes three years to get there," Posny said.

To make teaching easier, some school districts offer job sharing. Others offer district-operated day care centers.

Topeka USD 501 superintendent Kevin Singer has talked about starting a day care center if the school district finalizes a purchase of land and buildings on the former Topeka State Hospital grounds.

"I think anything we can do that provides a good benefit for our employees and makes it easier to continue in the work force is going to be needed for the future," Singer said.

Tenpenny's mother, Denise Lohness, took a break from education to work as a team leader at Hill's Pet Nutrition before going back to work in Seaman USD 345, where she since has retired.

"I never really thought about going back into education, but when I did, it gave me a viewpoint of where our graduates were going," Lohness said.

For now, Tenpenny has no doubts that she wants to go back to teaching.

Already, she has started substitute teaching one day a week.

"I really love to teach," she said. "I don't know if there is anything I'd like to make a career of other than teaching."

Barbara Hollingsworth can be reached at (785) 295-1285

or barbara.hollingsworth

@cjonline.com.