More hiring on agenda for the next school board meeting

Next week's board meeting in Du Quoin Unit District 300 will have more hirings for the board to approve for the 2022-23 school year.

It's a phenomenon that Superintendent Matt Hickam said has only a tangential connection to the pandemic - in that some teachers and staff who planned to retire after the 2022-23 year have decided to leave this spring instead, a full year early.

Hickam said the district really didn't any pushback among unvaccinated staffers, who were required to get weekly COVID tests.

"What we did see were people in the retirement pipeline who were going to work next year but then decided to go at the end of this year," he said.

"Fortunately, we're not losing people to other school districts," he said. "But we do have our fair share of retirees."

Filling those positions is harder that it used to be, as there aren't as many young people choosing education for a career, Hickam added.

"In general there is a lower supply of teachers and support staff," he said.

For example, the Southern Illinois University School of Education - a traditional source of young teachers in the region - is rebuilding, Hickam said.

"But they still aren't churning out the number of grads for all the positions in the region," he added.

Spring break is a long weekend

District 300 is having Spring Break right now - as the schools are closed Thursday and Friday or this week, and Monday or next week. Counting the weekend, that's a five-day break.

At Easter, the schools will have a four-day break, from Friday, April 15 to Monday, April 18.

Hickam said District 300 and other local districts near Carbondale usually follow the SIU calendar, since there are a decent number of Du Quoin people affiliated with SIU and it's more convenient for the days off to line up.