Students were back in class Monday in Jordan District schools. But some schools are still trying to hire teachers, and using long-term substitutes to fill in, after an exodus of veteran teachers last spring.

More than 250 teachers retired in July following the district's move to reduce retirement benefits due to changes in federal and state accounting rules. And that has left schools in stiff competition for teachers.

"The most important thing I do is hire good people," said Trenton Goble, principal at Heartland Elementary. "And even though there's a shortage, it doesn't mean we are going to settle for people who are not going to do a good job in the classroom."

Jordan spokesman Michael Kelley said it's not unusual to start the year with substitutes. In schools with growing enrollments it can sometimes be hard to predict head counts. As a result, principals bring in long-term substitutes so if they need to cut back they don't have to fire a full-time teacher.

But with the increase in retirements, he said it takes time to get those slots filled. In the past couple of years, the district hired between 300 and 400 teachers a year. This fall it had to find around 500.

"The number of (teachers retiring) didn't end up directly impacting us — we only had one teacher retire — but a total of 14 teachers left our building" for other schools in the district, said Goble, who is still looking to fill three positions. "It ends up putting more pressure on us because everybody is out there looking, and the competition for good candidates is very competitive."

To aid in the search for qualified teachers, district leaders wrote courtship letters and paid the state retirement office to address them to about 480 teachers who retired in the past few years.

Recruiters for the district extended their reach into a number of other states — spending some more time on the West Coast and going to different universities.

Goble said he interviewed teachers from all over the country — Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, California and Oregon.

"I see it as a positive thing — those teachers bring a different perspective to the school and bring enthusiasm in being a part of a new system," Goble said.

Kelley said the substitutes will continue to fill positions until full-time teachers are hired. Even so, he said, the number of long-term subs teaching this fall is only slightly higher than most years.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com