Lincoln Way 210 outlines staffing plan as many teachers near retirement; district intensifies recruiting

District human resources staff described hiring activity for the 2025–26 school year, outlined recruitment channels and said the district expects significant retirements in coming years.

The HR presentation reported 53 new hires this season across teachers, support staff and administrators and said the average experience level of newly hired teachers was about five years. The presenter noted the district hired only four teachers straight out of college this cycle and that 47 teachers are currently in a retirement pipeline, with retirements expected in 2026–29. HR staff said 50 percent of current staff fall into the two middle quartiles of experience, and nearly 25 percent of staff are in the most experienced quartile.

Why it matters: the district will need to replace retirees across subject areas and leadership roles, including department chairs. HR staff and board members discussed mentorship and succession strategies to manage knowledge transfer and preserve program continuity.

Recruiting and retention details reported in the meeting:
- The district maintains active recruiting relationships with roughly 25 universities; Illinois State University was identified as the primary recruiting source, followed by University of Saint Francis, Governors State and Trinity Christian.
- HR staff said they will attend ISU job fairs and will encourage student teachers to apply through a new online application step and a pre/post interview screening process.
- Over the past four years the district received about 100 student‑teacher placements and has 23 student teachers currently; staff said about 20 percent of student teachers over the last three years were later hired by the district.
- HR and board members discussed mentoring, middle‑career supports and the need to plan for department chair turnover in the next five to six years.

Board reaction and direction: board members pressed HR staff for targeted plans for critical‑need subjects (for example ELL and special services), for succession planning for department chairs and for resource planning to support mentoring and leadership development. HR staff said they will continue regular recruitment visits to university job fairs, maintain a district applicant pool, and return to the board with more detailed succession and mentorship proposals.

Ending: HR staff framed recruitment as an ongoing effort tied to longer term demographic shifts in the workforce and said the district will continue to refine interview and mentoring practices to meet anticipated turnover.