Superintendent and district staff described a 'Grow Your Own' initiative intended to attract and retain teachers by working with the Education Foundation to fund scholarships or tuition reimbursements for college juniors and seniors who agree to teach in the district for a period after graduation. "The basic premise...was similar to the rural health care scholars...we would reimburse them, they agree to come and teach for us for 1 year," Speaker 5 said.

Officials said the proposal would target hard-to-fill positions such as secondary math and science, and that scholarship selection would include district representation with high school administrators and teachers weighing in. The superintendent framed the plan as an early-stage effort to learn from other districts and to tailor the program to district needs.

As a complementary step, the district proposed hiring a senior in the teaching pathway as a paid part-time intern at the middle school for roughly 10 hours a week to gain experience and move closer to candidacy for future scholarships or employment. "We would pay them for that...they'd have to go through the process...interviews," Speaker 3 said. The board discussed details and indicated follow-up reporting will be provided, but took no formal action at this meeting.