(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s teacher shortage appears to be worsening and one expert says many schools across the state have multiple openings just weeks — or days — before the school year is set to begin. Mark McDermott, associate dean at the University of Iowa’s College of Education, says they routinely get calls from dozens of Iowa’s 300-plus school administrators as fall approaches, checking to see if there are any recent graduates available to fill teaching jobs. “What we have really noticed the last couple of years, there were always some very specific content areas that were shortage areas. We would always have people calling about physics teachers or special education teachers,” McDermott says, “and now it’s really almost all content areas in all types of positions.”

While hesitating to say “most” schools in the state are short on teachers, McDermott says “many” districts are seeking help in virtually every type of course and grade level. McDermott says, “Not only has the number increased but also the variety of the content areas and the types of positions that schools are looking to fill has increased dramatically.” McDermott, a clinical professor of science education at the U-I, says he’s surprised by the degree to which teacher openings are appearing, and in all corners of the state. “Our students would sometimes have trouble finding elementary ed positions because there would be so many applicants for each elementary ed job,” McDermott says. “And now, we’re getting calls even close to the start of school from schools who are saying, ‘I have five elementary teaching positions that are open,’ and a couple of years ago that would have never happened.”

McDermott says the Iowa City institution is working to help meet the teacher shortage and develop pipeline programs to recruit more future teachers, and in particular, to recruit and retain students of color. “One of our goals is to find ways to help people enter teacher preparation,” he says, “but we’re also really concerned with making sure that we continue to provide a sound, strong, cohesive program when we prepare teachers so that we’re not just ‘preparing’ them, we’re also preparing them to be retained, to stick with it, to stay in the field.”

McDermott says part of the shortage may still stem from the so-called Great Resignation that came about during the pandemic, as many workers retired early or simply left their positions and industries to seek something new.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report three recent arrests. At around 2:28-a.m., Sunday, Creston Police arrested James Michelson, of Creston, following a traffic stop. Michelson was charged with Driving While Suspended, and he was arrested on an Adair County Warrant for Violation of Probation on the original charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance 2nd. Michelsen was transported to the Union County Jail where he was being held pending transport to the Adair County Jail.

Friday night, Brandon Whitfield, of Creston, was arrested on Adams St. by the Calvary Cemetery. He was charged with Eluding While Exceeding Speed Limit by 25 MPH or More. Whitfield was transported to the Union County Jail and later released after posting a $2,000 bond.

And, Friday evening, Holly Donehoo, of Mt. Ayr, was arrested on Cherry St. in Creston, and charged with a Union County Warrant. The warrant was a Probation Violation on the original charge of Possession of a controlled substance-methamphetamine. Donehoo was transported to the Adams County Jail and later released after posting a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne says the climate, tax and health bill she voted for in the House will be transformative. The three Iowa Republicans in the House voted no. Anxe, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says the bill lowers the costs of prescription drugs for seniors and invests in clean energy. Zach Nunn, the Republican who’s challenging Axne, says the bill is the wrong move in the middle of a recession.

“The so-called Infation Reduction Act added almost another trillion dollars in government spending at a time where they’re telling Iowans: ‘You should spend less. You should tighten your belt,'” Nunn said, “‘We’re going to go ahead and print off more money and spend more of your tax dollars on projects.”

Nunn made his comments at the Iowa State Fair on the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox. Axne did not speak during House debate of the plan, but Iowa’s three Republican members of the House did. Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion called the bill a tax and spending spree. “It’s the worst policy at the worst possible time,” Hinson said.

Liz Mathis is the Democrat from Hiawatha who is running against Hinson. Mathis says the bill reduces the federal deficit and increases U.S. energy independence by supporting Iowa’s biofuel industry. Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa says letting limiting prescription drug prices for Americans on Medicare will limit innovation.  “It means less cures for rare diseases or debilitating diseases,” Miller-Meeks says.

Christina Bohannan of Iowa City is the Democrat running against Miller-Meeks in the General Election and she’ll speak at the State Fair on Wednesday. Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull says the bill that passed the House late Friday is full of liberal priorities. “This radical bill will also supercharge the Democrats’ Green New Deal agenda without making our country energy independent again,” Feensta said in remarks on the House floor.

Ryan Melton of Nevada is the Democrat who is running against Feenstra. He will speak at the State Fair this (Monday) afternoon.

(Radio Iowa) – Diedre DeJear, the Democratic candidate for governor, says some of the state’s surplus should be directed to improve the state’s mental health care system and other priorities. “$1.5 billion dollars of your taxpayer money is sitting in an account that this current governor is calling a trust fund…That’s Iowa’s ‘Rainy Day’ fund and it’s raining in our state on mental health care, on education, on health care, on child care,” DeJear says. “We have to have leadership who’s going to put your resources to work.”

DeJear made her comments during a speech at The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. DeJear told the crowd she recently spoke with a man who was trying to get mental health services for his son, but the only in-patient treatment available in Iowa was a six hour drive away and the first available appointment with a psychiatrist was in two months.

“We see suicides are up across this state and we don’t like it,” DeJear says. “…Our cops are telling me: ‘Deidre, we’re coming quasi mental health care practitioners. That’s not what we signed up for.’ In our rural communities our county jails are becoming holding facilities for people with mental health challenges. We can do better than that, can we not, Iowa?”

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill in 2019 that created the framework for a children’s mental health care system. DeJear says under her opponent’s leadership, Iowa has made little progress.  “We have less than 30 child psychiatrists for a population of more than half a million students in this state. Is that right? Can we do better?” DeJear asked the crowd listening to her speech at the State Fair.

Iowa Republican Party spokesman Kollin Crompton says DeJear is a radical Democrat who has spent her time tweeting, while Governor Reynolds has been meeting with thousands of Iowans every day at the Iowa State Fair.