Editor’s note: “Work in Lincoln County” is a series of stories exploring the labor shortage in Lincoln County. Throughout the series, the LCN news team will take in an in-depth look at the impact of the labor shortage has had on childcare providers, schools, restaurants, healthcare industry, construction, and farming. We ask business leaders, staff, and patrons to consider the roots of the labor shortage in their industry, and importantly, what it would take to improve the situation.
“Work in Lincoln County” will run in The Lincoln County News periodically throughout the fall. If your business or organization faces a challenge hiring and retaining workers and you would like to be interviewed for this series, email Raye S. Leonard at rleonard@lcnme.com.
Superintendents from school districts in Lincoln County reported a shallow candidate pool for this summer’s round of hiring, as well as a long-term downward trend in people entering the workforce in the area.
“I wouldn’t say it was a whole lot different from other years, only that the pool of candidates was shallower,” Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit, or RSU 12, Superintendent Howard “Howie” Tuttle said, during a phone interview on Sept. 2.
The seven towns in RSU 12 are Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Westport Island, Whitefield, and Windsor.
Tuttle said that 11 positions were filled in the summer of 2020 and 17 positions total were filled this year. The main difference in this year’s hiring cycle was that there were fewer candidates to choose from.
“Luckily, we hired some great people, but you might only get three people to apply in some positions,” Tuttle said.
Central Lincoln County School System, or AOS 93, Superintendent Craig Jurgensen also said during a phone interview on Sept. 3 that the main difference this year for his district was a shallow candidate pool.
AOS 93 includes seven towns — Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Jefferson, Newcastle, Nobleboro, and South Bristol — with five elementary schools
Jurgensen said there are several factors that could contribute to this trend, but they are hard to pinpoint. It could have to do with increased compensation in other fields or the lack of a flexible schedule in school positions.
“If you added up the numbers, there were more people coming and going, but not for any one reason and not necessarily related to the pandemic,” Jurgensen said.
RSU 40 Superintendent Steve Nolan said during a phone interview on Sept. 9 that it has always been challenging to find qualified candidates in education during his eight years at the district, partly because of the certifications needed.
“Typically, pretty much every position requires some sort of certification from the (Maine) Department of Education, so you have to qualify for that level of certification to be considered for that position,” Nolan said.
RSU 40 includes the Lincoln County town of Waldoboro and its three schools, as well as the Knox County towns of Friendship, Union, Warren, and Washington.
He said he has tracked hiring since the 2017-18 school year and, on average, the district has filled 50 to 60 positions per year.
“It’s been an ongoing challenge for us,” Nolan said.
He cited some trends across the country, such as changing demographics and the long-term impact of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which was replaced in 2015.
The No Child Left Behind Act was the main law for K-12 education in the U.S. from 2002 to 2015 and was controversial, in part because it penalized schools that didn’t show improvement and it created arbitrary metrics for how teachers were deemed to be “qualified,” as defined by the law.
“One thing that it’s done is tarnished education as a career path for people. So I believe there are fewer people pursuing education as a career path when they go to college and earn their degrees,” Nolan said of the No Child Left Behind Act.
RSU 40 offers some tuition reimbursement in its collective bargaining agreement, which helps to retain education professionals.
“If we can get them in, then we’re just trying to find ways to help them take care of the requirements they may need in order to advance to a level of certification we’d like them to have,” Nolan said.
The district is also setting aside federal coronavirus relief funds to fund continuing education for employees.
“The bigger issue is there are more people leaving the workforce than people coming into it, as Baby Boomers age out of the workforce. And I think that’s a challenge for everybody, not specific to education,” Nolan said.
According to a Maine Department of Labor survey conducted in July, 20% of respondents cited additional skills training as a support needed to go to work and 11% cited tuition reimbursement.
Nolan also said that he has been working to increase compensation for RSU 40 staff during his tenure and that next school year, the district will be aligned with the average education salaries in the Midcoast.
“We’ve worked really hard to better align our compensation with the region,” Nolan said.
AOS 93 Superintendent Jurgensen said his district’s main strategy now is also to retain workers.
AOS 93 held its first district-wide on-boarding induction meeting for all the newly hired staff to show them appreciation and “let them know we cared about them and support them,” Jurgensen said.
The district also advertised more this year in different places to attract candidates and also relied on word-of-mouth and personal connections.
Tuttle, of RSU 12, noted that there was more movement of staff in the district this year, possibly because of more opportunities in other fields and across the state, but the district was able to fill nearly all its open positions.
“It was not insurmountable,” Tuttle said.
