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Fargo speech‑language pathologists ask board to help build recruitment pipeline
Summary
Three Fargo Public Schools speech‑language pathologists told the school board they have begun university outreach, internships and shadowing programs to address a district shortage of SLPs; they said five recent hires were former district interns.
Marne Feifer, a speech‑language pathologist at Discovery Middle School, told the Fargo Board of Education that district SLPs are actively recruiting future clinicians by presenting to regional university programs and offering shadowing and internship opportunities.
"We are speaking as a group of SLPs and FEA members with Fargo Public Schools," Feifer said, describing presentations made to Minnesota State University Moorhead, the University of North Dakota, University of Mary and Minot State University. She said the district tailors separate sessions for graduate and undergraduate students and discusses caseload expectations, salary, benefits and mentorship for new hires.
Feifer and colleagues Christa Severson (Lincoln Elementary) and Jill Van Winkl (early childhood program) said the district faces strong competition from hospitals and private clinics and has increasingly relied on contracted virtual speech services and paraprofessionals. They said outreach has produced early results: "In the past three years, five SLPs hired by FPS were new graduates who did an internship with Fargo Public Schools," Feifer said.
Board members thanked the presenters and shared brief observations. One board member, Greg, recounted watching an SLP in an early childhood special education classroom and quoted the clinician as saying, "How could you not love this job?" as evidence of the work's appeal to prospective hires.
The presenters asked for board support and coordination with human capital to sustain and grow the pipeline. They described the effort as long‑term and requested continued district assistance with internships, transparent information on salary and benefits, and opportunities to expand visibility to regional students.
The board did not take formal action on the presentation; members expressed appreciation and asked staff to continue partnering with the FEA presenters to align recruitment with district human capital plans.
