By the way, the job fair went pretty well. As well as can be expected. Not many districts showed - 5 were expected but only 1 really showed up. Since the state budget will be released April 17th the district was unable to confirm any specific vacancies. So Keith participated in the max 4 "interviews" (2 middle school and 2 high school) which were more like screenings. Just a get to know you sort of environment so they will be familiar with applicants should a job open up in his subject area (math).
Applicants crowd the South Sister building at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center during Thursday’s education job fair, sponsored by Bend-La Pine Schools. Fewer districts participated in the fair this year because of hiring freezes and budget cuts, but hopeful teachers showed up from all over the country for the event.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
How far would you travel for an outside shot at a job?
Bend-La Pine Schools started its job fair more than 10 years ago, and it grew to include many nearby districts. This year, with precious few openings and just two districts participating, hundreds of hopefuls showed up, from as far off as Florida.
By Sheila G. Miller / The Bulletin
Published: April 10. 2009 4:00AM PST
REDMOND — Robert Kleng isn’t very hopeful.
The 30-year-old is finishing up his bachelor’s degree in education at Eastern Oregon University’s Gresham campus and wants to teach elementary school.
But looking around at the applicants packed into the South Sister building at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center at Thursday’s education job fair, he said he knows his chances are slim.
“I’m pretty pessimistic,” Kleng said. “I’m onto plans B, C and D.”
His first choice would be to teach internationally. Plan B is to teach somewhere in the United States, and beyond that, it’s either moving home to La Grande to substitute or going back to school.
“My wife and I are looking for jobs anywhere in the world,” he said. “We’re looking nationally and internationally.”
Kleng was among hundreds of teachers who showed up Thursday at the fairgrounds in hopes of grabbing one of the very few jobs available at Bend-La Pine Schools, or at least adding their résumés to the pile. But while the job fair attracted many applicants, who lined up for a few 10-minute interviews, it drew fewer employers this year than in the past, thanks to hiring freezes and budget cuts at most area school districts.
The job fair started more than 10 years ago, Human Resources Director Jim Widsteen said, with then-Human Resources Director Ron Wilkinson — now superintendent — organizing the first event in the Mountain View High School gym. It has grown significantly to include hundreds of applicants and, until this year, plenty of jobs.
In past years, Widsteen said, representatives from Sisters, Redmond, Crook County and Culver school districts have been at the job fair, and some years, school districts from farther afield, like Lakeview and John Day, recruited teachers at the fair.
This year is different.
Only the Bend-La Pine and Jefferson County school districts participated. Jefferson County and High Desert Education Service District manned booths in one corner, while administrators from Bend-La Pine lined the walls.
Jefferson County, in fact, has only one current opening, for a reading specialist.
Held it anyway
“We think it’s good for the district to meet new teachers who are interested in our area and let them know about our district,” said Jefferson County Human Resources Director Melinda Boyle. “We don’t know how many openings we’ll have.”
Bob Jones, a Bend-La Pine administrator, said the district fielded calls from teachers around the country looking for jobs and planning to attend the fair. So even though the district is not certain how many, if any, teachers it will hire for the 2009-10 school year, it held the job fair anyway.
“Until we know the exact budget, we’re not going to know our hiring status,” Jones said. “From what I’ve heard, the district will be limited to very few new hires next year.”
He said area schools’ greatest need is for specialists, like choir teachers or reading specialists.
Applicants lined up to be considered as elementary or secondary teachers, then were assigned to speak with two administrators. The administrators took résumés, asked questions and then filled out review forms on the applicants. That information, Widsteen said, will be compiled into a database for future use.
Applicants from all over
Kleng, the applicant from La Grande, stood next to Mike Loughlin, 31, who traveled from Florida with his wife, Sara Kelty, 27.
The couple want a lifestyle change and think Oregon is where they’d like to be.
“We have friends here. We like the way of life,” Kelty said. “People are more environmentally conscious.”
Loughlin said he’d like to live in a state that values education.
“We’d like to be in a state where education is not the first place they make cuts,” he said.
The pair is fortunate to have survived a round of layoffs in their district in Spring Hill, Fla.
“People are getting cut right and left, so I’m lucky to have a job to give up,” Kelty said.
Keith Clayton (yeah! FAMOUS! :) feels the same way. He teaches in Southern California and has also survived layoffs, but he wants to bring his wife back to Central Oregon, where they grew up.
“That’s a blessing in this economy,” he said of having a job. “But we’d like to get jobs here and then let someone on the chopping block take our jobs (in California).”
The lines inched forward slowly, but Kleng said he was used to that.
Earlier this week, he went to a teacher fair in Portland, where he had to wait in line for an hour at each district he interviewed with.
Still, he’s trying to look at his advantages.
“I’m fluent in Spanish. I’ve got my (English for Speakers of Other Languages) certification,” he said. “And I’m a male elementary school teacher, and they’ve told us to talk that up.”
Widsteen said that all told, he expected as many as 500 applicants to visit the fair Thursday, from all over the country. The job fair was scheduled to run from noon to 6 p.m., to accommodate anyone who might be substituting.
“This is an event to think about the future,” Widsteen said. “We’ll hire down the road, and we want to keep up good relationships with these people. … There’s a lot of good folks here.”
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