From the Desk of Mr. Mike Shukis
When Obstacles Get in The Way
Throughout history the greatest thinkers and philosophers have one thing in common: they all learned to turn adversity into advantage. Author Ryan Holiday stated, “To overcome obstacles, we must see them not as an impediment, but as “an opportunity to gain a new foothold, move forward, or go in a new direction.” To put it mildly, it is not an easy time today to be an educator and Marian is not immune to some of the biggest obstacles that face education today. I, however, have hope. More than any roadblock, there will always be opportunities to think things through and the patience to approach things a little differently.
An example of this would be the school staffing shortages and turnover which are a huge concern facing school leaders across the country. Currently, hiring teachers is a challenge as schools struggle to find candidates to just apply to open positions. Also, a number of teachers are being “poached” by other schools because the applicant pools that once numbered in the hundreds are now in the single digits for many positions. It has become much more difficult to attract and retain good teachers in schools today because the job is simply harder, which can easily lead to overwork and burnout.
Hope lies in the strong empirical evidence that the presence of positive, trusting working relationships is a key foundation piece to any school improvement efforts and teacher retention. Schools are working hard to develop a strong system of hiring, induction, and support, which will hopefully lay a foundation for a teacher’s sense of success and give them a desire to remain at their school.
There is some good news down the road. The number of college students enrolled in teacher prep programs in 2021 was 6 percent higher than the number enrolled in such programs in 2019 and over the last three years, the number of students entering teacher prep programs has increased in 37 states.
We need to understand that some of the biggest obstacles in education today aren’t insurmountable roadblocks, but opportunities to think through and approach things differently.
Mr. Mike Shukis
Superintendent
