By Jamie Ausk Crisafulli
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Eight teaching positions and one administrative position at Dawson County High School will be vacant at the end of the school year.
“We are looking for a lot of people,” Glendive Superintendent Ross Farber said this week.
Five instructors at Dawson County High School have submitted notice that they will retire at the end of the school year.
The union contract prohibits school administration from releasing the names of those planning to retire, according Farber.
Two other instructors – math instructor Whitney Pierce and English instructor Phillip Reed – have submitted their resignations.
DCHS Vice Principal Hugo Anderon has taken the superintendent position at Hobson Schools.
Farber noted that the Family and Consumer Science position at DCHS is also a position the school will have to advertise.
This year retired teacher Twylla McPherson is the instructor, working under emergency authorization through the Montana Office of Public Instruction. Farber noted the EA status basically amounts to a license that is good for one year only.
“Each year the district, after unsuccessful attempts at hiring for that position, can request emergency authorization for the position from the state,” Farber said.
He noted school administrators are looking at possible consolidations or changes to some positions at the high school moving forward.
Two positions in the elementary district have opened up so far.
Washington Middle School teachers Katelyn Cunningham, physical education instructor; and Nicole Simasko, English teacher, have submitted resignations.