During the 2023-2024 school year, the Washoe County School District struggled with a major teacher shortage, so school officials decided to take a new approach in their hiring process.
The district introduced "speed interviewing." In a series of matchmaking events, teacher candidates were screened, interviewed, and hired the same day.
This process enabled staff to pair the right teacher with students, to fit their needs faster. Prior to the new school year the district had hired over 200 new teachers to support the districts 60,000 plus students.
"So, I think the process, speaking to that just a little bit, first time ever we've kind of set up speed interviewing, if you will, where we brought all the candidates to one school and all the principals to a school to do just really quick interviews and hire on the spot," said Doug Owen, Chief Human Resources Officer. "So, a little bit different than a career fair, where we kind of wait for people to come. We invited everybody to the same place."
Newly recruited teacher Natalie Brimley shared her enthusiasm on joining the staff.
"I really just love that Lemelson has a really small staff," she said. "When I talked to Susan, Mrs. Novelli, our principal, she mentioned that the staff is very close, which I really didn't have in my last district, ya know. We had such a large school, so we weren't as connected as this staff, so that really drew me here."
According to officials, forging strong partnerships within the school district has built a tremendous work ethic among teachers and connection for students.
