Libby schools welcoming 20 new employees

The Libby School District is set to start another school year and this year they will be welcoming 20 new employees into the schools.

“We hired a bunch of new teachers,” Craig Barringer, Libby’s superintendent said. “We hired 15 teachers and five classified positions.”

The hires were the result of a number of retirements and people moving away from the area.

“We had a lot of turnover,” he said. “We had seven teachers that retired. Three more teachers moved from the area with their spouse or for family reasons.”

Barringer said that the preschool grant that the district received this year created two new positions for the school system.

“We got our preschool grant,” he said. “We had two teaching positions that opened up for that reason. We had a large number of retirees and adding the preschool created a number of open positions. We just had to hire a whole bunch of people. Hiring this many teachers in one year is not the norm.”

With all the open positions the school district hired a number of people from outside the Lincoln County community.

“Of the 20 new-hires 12 of them are coming from outside Lincoln County,” he said. “It’s nice for the community to see new faces and families.”

A small number of the new hires will be returning to the school where they received their education.

“Of the new hires two of them are Libby graduates,” he said. “They are back to where it all started.”

Mandi Foss is one of the teachers returning to her alma mater and will be serving as a counselor.

“I was born and raised right here in Libby,” Foss said. “I graduated in 2003. I have been teaching in Lincoln for the last three years. I’m so excited to be back home and back in the Libby Public Schools.”

Before returning to Libby, Jennifer Roberts taught middle school math for nine years in Roswell, N.M. She is a Libby High School graduate and will be teaching fifth grade.

“It feels good to be home,” Roberts said.

The new hires are nice blend of experienced teachers and teachers that will be teaching for the first time.

“We had our new hire orientation Monday, Aug. 24,” Barringer said. “The first impression that the new teachers have given us has been very positive.  I think we have a good crew that we brought in. It’s a diverse group. Some of them are experienced teachers and others will be teaching for the first time. I’m pretty excited about the people we hired.”

Carlan Campbell is a first-time teacher and will be teaching science. She is from Big Timber and recently graduated from Montana State Bozeman.

“I’m very excited for the school year to begin,” Campbell said.

Julie Sagissor has been teaching for 18 years. She has taught in Superior, Townsend and Miles City. She will be teaching first grade.

“I grew up in Superior,” she said. “I received my bachelor’s degree from University of Montana and my Library Media Endorsement from Montana State.”

Barringer said that the new teachers are excited to start their new careers in Libby.

“They all made a very good impression,” he said. “They all seem excited to be here and be part of the Libby school district.”

Ann Glimm will be teaching math in the high school and has called northwestern Montana home on and off for 13 years. Glimm said she’s excited to start her teaching career as a Logger.

“I grew up in Conrad,” Glimm said. “I am thrilled to be back in the northwest corner of our great state. I have been teaching for five years and I’m looking forward to a great year with the Libby Loggers and getting to help the young people of Libby be successful students.”

Charie Carvey is moving to Libby from Eureka and will be teaching kindergarten. Carvey said she’s thankful to be apart of a great community.

“I previously taught Head Start with three to five year olds for the past three years,” Carvey said. “I worked in the school system there as a paraprofessional for three years and as a substitute teacher for 19 years. I’m truly impressed with the Libby School system and their value they put on the importance of quality teachers. I am continuously amazed at how friendly this community is and I feel lucky to be granted this opportunity.”

Rodd and Rezina Zeiler moved to Libby with their three daughters to be closer to their family.

“We moved to be closer to our family,” he said. “We made this move on the premise of teaching our kids the importance of family. I’ve been teaching for 20 years and I’ve been introduced in five different districts. I haven’t seen a more welcoming, energetic and detailed administrative staff. Everything going on with the district is nothing but positive. The community has been very welcoming.”