Bismarck Public Schools Welcome More Students - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Bismarck Public Schools Welcome More Students

In just a couple weeks students will be heading back to class, and some districts are seeing an increase in the number of students.

Bismarck Public Schools will see 286 more students than this time last year, and they've already hired 14 new teachers, but they could still use more.

"We are finding some critical shortages for example in speech pathology, we're having difficulty filling that, the special ed positions are difficult always, it's getting tighter in mathematics and in English," Superintendent Tamara Uselman said.

Part of that struggle is finding room for new teachers and for the kids.

"We are very crowded, so even if we have permission to get a teacher that doesn't mean we have the teaching space for that teacher," Uselman said.

Another shortage is for teaching assistants as well as bus drivers.

A Special Board Meeting will be held at the Hughes Education Center Wednesday to discuss whether or not more teachers can be hired.