Great Falls Public School District (GFPSD) is holding a job fair to fill numerous positions including substitute teachers, teacher aids, custodians, crossing guards, food service staff, paraprofessionals and more.
“We are having this job fair to provide the community an opportunity to come and apply for some pretty fantastic positions to work for the Great Falls Public School District and it just gets rid of a lot of the stressors and frustrations of applying for and achieving a job,” said Brian Miller, Principal of North Middle School.
Miller said that since Covid, “it is very difficult to hire enough staff and fill all the positions.” The demand for not just teachers, but all positions is high across the board for the GFPSD.
Luke Diekhans, Human Resources Director for the GFPSD, said many of the positions they are trying to fill have flexible schedules, especially the substitute teacher position. In this role, people are able to choose what days they want to work, which locations they want to work at, etc.
“School starts in less than a month now, and we still are filling those critical positions that are hourly type positions, as well as a few teaching positions at this time,” said Diekhans. “In order for us to be as effective as possible in our classrooms, for our students and our community, we want to go in with a full, most complete and qualified staff we can possibly find.”
“We are hiring from support positions to admin positions and everywhere in between,” said Miller. “We're in need and no one position is more important than another because we all just do what we can and support how we can this fantastic profession.”
Lisa Herrin is a custodian and engineer for the GFPSD. She was hired a year ago after attending this same job fair. Herrin said she is grateful for everyone at the job fair who were very helpful throughout the process for her.
“My experience with the Great Falls Public Schools because I worked at a couple of different schools, and now working up here at the District Office Building, it's a completely different change. Same job description, you know, but there's always a door that can open where we can succeed at a higher level,” said Herrin.
An opportunity such as this job fair is viewed as an amazing opportunity to Clinton Topel, North Middle School administrative intern. Topel said he loves being apart of the community and the GFPSD and encourages everyone to come check them out for themselves.
“The one thing that we hear over and over again from the folks that we hire is how much of a family, not just our school is, but the Great Falls Public School system is and how we take care of one another,” said Topel. “It is a great place to work, and I just encourage as many people as possible to come out and at least check us out.”
The job fair will be on August 17 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Paris Gibson Education Center. It is encouraged to fill out the application prior to the event and the application can be found on the GFPS website. There will be on-the-spot interviews, and having the application already filled out will help with time.
For more information visit https://www.gfps.k12.mt.us
