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Alex Cabrero reporting With all the growth Utah is experiencing, school districts are scrambling to find teachers for the increase in students. During Gov. Jon Huntsman's State of the State speech last night, he mentioned how far the state has come with education.
You need good, qualified teachers to get the job done. Today, Eyewitness News found one school district searching the country for those teachers.
In portable room number seven at Tooele High School it would be easy to think this was band practice. Instead, Dean Wilson is a history teacher who has a unique, exciting way to get these 11th-graders excited about history. There's no homework or textbooks, but the students have to participate in class to keep their end of the deal.
"The students out here are great. It's an awesome lifestyle. I like it out here in Tooele," Wilson said.
This is Wilson's first year teaching in Tooele. He's from Plain City, Utah, and was recruited by the school district. "I love it. It's been an amazing journey so far. I've got to meet some great people, both with coaching and teaching. It couldn't be a better fit," Wilson said.
He's also a good fit for the district. Wilson is the type of teacher they're heavily recruiting, and next year, with new schools and all, Tooele thinks it'll need some 100 new teachers to fill all the positions.
"Our growth is one of the big concerns we have here in the state," explained Terry Christensen, of the Tooele School District.
It's Christensen's job to recruit those new teachers. "Luckily, we have a supportive board and a supportive superintendent that allow us to go to a lot of different places that maybe other school districts in Utah might not go," Christensen said.
Not only does Tooele recruit for teachers inside the state of Utah, but it also does it throughout the country. "We've also been to Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, the state of Washington, Idaho," Christensen explained.
All that traveling just to find the best teachers. "It does hurt a little bit when we have to be on the road for a long period of time, but come fall, when we actually start school, that's where your payoff is," Christensen said.
Tooele even recruited a couple of teachers from Mexico. The governor says this year Utah was 400 teachers short, which doubled last year's shortage.
