MADISON (WKOW) -- Thousands of teacher retirements across Wisconsin mean thousands of brand-new teachers beginning their careers.
Madison Memorial High School has 20 new teachers, including 14 who have never had a full-time teaching job. Among them, Dana Patton and Matt Kvistad, who teach Algebra 1 and Geometry.
Patton and Kvistad say a desire to help kids learn drew them to the field. "Even though I have students who say 'Oh, I hate math,' or ' I can't do math,' I just say, no. You can do it. Just wait. We're gonna make it fun for you," said Kvistad.
Memorial High School has about 1900 students enrolled. On Thursday, about 480 freshmen and new transfers started. The rest of the students will join them Friday.
"These first two days, Thursday and Friday, I'm trying to do community building, get to know each other, have fun, set the standard for respect in the classroom," said Patton. "And hopefully next week we can start doing the math and having fun with it."
"I've had a few staff say, 'Wow, you're so full of excitement. I'm so glad you're here to be with the freshmen because they need that,'" said Kvistad. "So I've got the adrenaline going and I'm all set."
Nearly twice as many Wisconsin public school teachers decided to retire in the first half of this year, compared to all of 2010. It comes after most of their collective bargaining rights were eliminated through Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.
For new teachers, it means more job openings. "The class I graduated with, all 15 of my math friends have gotten jobs this year," said Patton. "So it definitely opened up opportunities for those of us graduating and trying to find positions.
Through June this year, nearly 5,000 school district employees started receiving retirement benefits. That is almost double the more than 2,500 retirements in all of last year.
Kvistad says he understands the mass exodus. "To have something they thought they'd get in retirement had have it taken away at they last minute, they say 'I think I'm going to go right now,'" said Kvistad. "It doesn't make me nervous going into the profession because all these people are behind us. We get these messages of 'We're going to work together.'"
Kvistad and Patton were student teachers at Memorial during the collective bargaining protests in February and March. Patton spent two days at the Capitol protesting the changes with her fellow teachers.
"It was a crazy experience," Patton said. "It was great seeing all the people who support teachers and state workers. It made me feel very good inside knowing that I have that backup and the community is in support of us."
Kvistad says despite the changes, he's optimistic about the future. "I think we should have some type of collective bargaining because it'd be nice for us to have a say in something we're so deeply passionate about," he said. "We're here to help the kids. So if we don't have a say it what we think is best for them and we have some external party [making those decisions], I'm a little leery about that."
