QUEEN CREEK, AZ — Despite a surge in student population, Queen Creek Unified School District is "fully staffed" this school year, according to district human resources director Keegan Bassett.
"This year, we were very excited to be one of the only schools in Arizona that was fully staffed for teachers at the beginning of this year," he said.
Bassett said they first used more common ways to draw in teachers, like an increase in pay, marketing campaigns for job openings, and networking at job fairs both in and out of state. From there, though, he said they had to get creative.
The newly announced program, Aspire2Teach, is one method they're hoping will be a successful solution to maintaining full staff.
Bassett described it as a "grow your own" type model.
"The Arizona State Board of Education just approved our classroom-based education preparation program," Bassett said. "We'll be able to target prospective teachers that are current classified employees, substitute teachers, and then community members that hold a bachelor's degree where we could consider them for positions where we would then provide them the education preparation program training for their careers."
Bassett also said QCUSD is planning at least two new schools within the next couple of years to help with a rise in student population.
Growth in the East Valley has not been slowing down. QCUSD has opened seven schools in the past six years, according to Bassett.
"Projections right now are we anticipate having another two elementary schools in our north region," Bassett said. "In addition to that, we're going to need to add on wings to Crismon High School and Eastmark High School as well to continue to absorb the student population that we anticipate receiving."
Silver Valley Elementary is in the district's north region. Bassett said it has roughly 1,100 students right now, which is why the district wants to open more schools in that area.
"Eleven-hundred kids as a former elementary school principal, that's probably on the upper echelon of the largest populated elementary schools in the state," Bassett said.
Bassett said the district is also fully staffed for bus drivers as of January, and no longer needed to use a third-party vendor to help with bus routes. He said that was due to a marketing campaign increase, an increase in hourly wage, a sign-on bonus, referral stipends, and a cross-department training program.
