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School adjusts to math teacher vacancy

By
Alexis Barker, NLJ News Editor

Newcastle High School and other Weston County School District No. 1 administrators have had to get creative to address a math teacher shortage at the school after the resignation of Alexandria Barrett-Stith on Sept. 11. 
Barrett-Stith resigned in a one-sentence email to Newcastle High School Principal Bryce Hoffman. The email stated that she was resigning due to health reasons, effective immediately. 
Her resignation left the school with only one certified math teacher, Ashley Reed, according to Hoffman. To address the shortage, the school has partnered with Carnegie Learning to provide virtual classroom instruction until a full-time teacher can be found. 
Not having a replacement for Barrett-Stith makes NHS one of four schools in the state that cannot fill a math teaching position, according to the Wyoming School Boards Association vacancy page. 
“Finding a certified replacement in the short term has been difficult. We reached out to Black Hills State University, Chadron State College, and the University of Wyoming and did not have any luck,” Hoffman said in an email to the News Letter Journal. “BHSU and CSC each only have one current secondary math student teacher and they are placed in their home states. One of them is already hired to fully take over in January at that school.” 
“The University of Wyoming sent out our job description through an email list service to recent graduates and upcoming graduates,” he added. “The only interest we had was from an individual who is not currently certified in that content area, so it wasn’t a great fit right now, but possibly could be down the road.” 
To address the issue in the interim, Hoffman said that the school has had to look at the various courses taught and approach each differently. 
Algebra I and Algebra II students were initially covered by a substitute teacher and then Sonya Tysdal, curriculum director, was able to free up some time in her schedule to teach some lessons. This allowed students to receive instruction. 
“Our best option now is a plan we are now moving forward with in partnership with our math curriculum providers, Carnegie Learning,” Hoffman said. “We were able to secure the services of a long-term substitute teacher who has a background in engineering and math.” 
Tysdal and the substitute will facilitate the class on site as co-teachers in a center learning model, he explained. 

 
“Students in class will be split into two groups, which will rotate halfway through the class period between our long-term substitute and the teacher assigned to the class by Carnegie Learning. The students will learn from a live teacher virtually and receive instruction for 35-40 minutes,” Hoffman said. “This individual will be able to answer questions and will be the same teacher assigned for that class each day.” 
He noted that the school believes this will bring consistency to the instruction given to the students, as opposed to rotating substitutes into the classroom. 
While half of the class is working with Carnegie, the other half will work on Mathia, which is an already embedded practice in the student’s routine, according to Hoffman. 
“Students will have our long-term substitute available to answer questions and manage student behavior,” he noted. 
“We know that this isn’t an ideal way of learning but feel this is our best option currently with the resources we have,” Hoffman explained. “Our plan is to utilize this model for the remainder of the semester, starting on Oct. 10. If this model is working well and we still do not have a certified teacher hired, we will continue to use this model the remainder of the school year.”
Costs associated with the Carnegie virtual instruction are $33,750 for 10 weeks and $101,250.00 for 30 weeks or the remainder of the year. According to Hoffman, the district will use Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III funds, ESSER III, funds to cover the contract costs because funds can be used to address teaching shortages. 
As previously reported by the News Letter Journal, the district received $3,751,067.75 in federal funding from the state through ESSER III, part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. It provided nearly $122 billion to “states and local educational agencies to help safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students.” 
Addressing the other class taught by Barrett-Stith was accomplished by the district working with Eastern Wyoming College. 
“One of the courses taught was Pre-Calculus/Statistics as a concurrent course through Eastern Wyoming College. Mrs. (Kim) Conzelman (EWC coordinator) was able to work with EWC to transfer this course to a dual enrollment course that will be taught online by Mrs. Reed,” he said. “We had the option to have an instructor from EWC deliver the content online but felt it would be more effective to have Mrs. Reed deliver that content because she has taught the course before and is available on site for questions through the homework help center and during enrichment/recovery time.”
During the second semester of this class, Hoffman said things will change. 
“Our only option to offer statistics with current personnel will be to have the course taught with an EWC teacher online as a dual enrollment course,” he said. 
The school is also using the enrichment/recovery time to provide support for the pre-calculus students. 
“They are scheduled with Mrs. Reed for 30 minutes every day and can ask questions at this time,” Hoffman said. 
For other students who are struggling, the school has a homework help center four days a week, although there may not be a math teacher there all the time.

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