The 2024-2025 school year will be kicking off in a couple of weeks. The new year will be bringing new faces to Big Sandy Schools. Big Sandy only needed to fill two teacher openings this year, which is fewer than previous years. Specifically, the fourth and fifth grade teaching positions have been filled.
The fourth grade teacher for the coming school year will be Brittany Barnett. Superintendent Dan Schrock explained that Barnett, "was the student Educator of the Year at U M. Western a few years ago when she was a senior at Western, in Dillon. She taught in Wyoming. She also taught in her hometown. Everyone that I spoke to in respect to her talents, and her as a teammate, spoke very highly of her." Barnett moved to Big Sandy with her husband and son. "I just spoke with her yesterday. She went over her classroom and is getting things organized and we're getting her settled in and trying to support her to the best of our ability. We're very fortunate. That's a testament to our school district and the culture that exists in our school district, especially at F.E. Miley; it's a family. It's a tight knit crew there."
The fifth grade teaching position will be filled by Big Sandy local, Connie Reichelt. Dan explained, "We're very fortunate that Connie recognized that we were in a tight spot. Not for lack of recruiting. It's just the state of education in Montana right now. It's challenging. We're fortunate to be fully staffed for next year." Dan explained that Connie agreed to step into the role to help the school out, as they were struggling to find another elementary school teacher. "Initially, it was discussed that she would help us until we're able to recruit, but because of the market being so tight I don't know if I'll be able to recruit." Neither the school nor Connie wanted F.E. Miley to be in a position where they would be forced to introduce a new teacher in the middle of the year, disrupting the education process. "That wouldn't be in their best interest and so she's agreed to stay on for the year and give us that time to recruit. I'm going to do everything I can to try to find a recruit for the following year." Connie has worked in Box Elder schools for years.
As stated before, Big Sandy is fortunate to start the year fully staffed, as the state is facing severe teacher shortages. According to the Frontier Institute, over the past 2 years Montana Public Schools have started their academic years with as many as 1000 open teaching positions. Big Sandy is also seeing fewer open positions this year than last. "As far as teaching staff, we probably had three times as many openings last year compared to what we had this year." Schrock attributed the smaller number of open positions to the organizational culture and local support for the school. "It's more a reflection on the school district. That's just the culture and the heart of our school district. We're very fortunate and appreciative of those people that have stepped up and that will pay it forward to the next generation and be great teammates to those that are already in place there."
The school is still looking to fill a custodial position and a school bus route driver.
