School district job fair produces 40 applicants

More than 40 candidates attended Carson City School District’s job fair Tuesday at district offices to apply for certified and classified positions before the 2023-24 year begins next month.

Christine Brugger of Minden said she found the process simple and exciting for anyone like her considering an opportunity in education.

“I was really excited because I have been substitute teaching and trying to figure out what I wanted to do, want to pursue for my career because I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for a while now,” she said.

Brugger has children and her bachelor’s degree and said she decided to pursue an opportunity with CCSD since it seemed to provide an ideal avenue for those seeking their certification at an accelerated pace.

“I’m interested in K-8 so far, and I’d probably like to teach at the elementary level because that works best with my kids’ schedule and with my own schedule,” she said. “If they want to attract more teachers, I think this is a great program to offer to someone like myself.”

Carson City, which continues to hire substitutes for its Alternative Routes to Licensure program, seeks candidates who have attained their high school diploma. The district looks for licensed teachers in the areas of special education, elementary education, the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program, computer science, math, science, social studies, dean of students and interventions.

If hired as an ARL teacher, CCSD will reimburse expenses to complete the iTeach program while teaching.

CCSD Associate Superintendent Dan Sadler said many teaching positions have been filled and the district was focused on hiring more bus drivers and paraprofessionals, especially for Carson Middle and Fremont Elementary schools. Carson High School also has some openings.

“We’ve done very well with custodial positions, and we have one groundskeeper open,” he said.

Those who are interested in applying for bus drivers will be paid to be trained and to complete their commercial driver’s license, he said.

Transportation Supervisor Cheri Fletcher, also at the job fair, said she has received a few applicants this summer.

“We have a current opening of a substitute driver, which is six hours a day,” she said. “They’re there in the morning and in the afternoon. We now have two special needs drivers and two regular school bus drivers.”

Training begins as soon as drivers receive their permit, and it lasts for three weeks, she said.

During Tuesday’s school board meeting, Sadler said, staff will seek approval of a salary and wage increase after recent negotiations with the district’s collective bargaining units.

“We’re very hopeful in thinking good thoughts for school board support,” Sadler said. “That will be a big day for us. We have just over 35 positions posted that we need to get filled.”