Colorado Public Radio: How Do You Keep Teachers In Rural Ignacio? You Grow Your Own

15 Aug Colorado Public Radio: How Do You Keep Teachers In Rural Ignacio? You Grow Your Own

By Jenny Brundin 
Colorado Public Radio

Colorado needs teachers. Thousands of them. Colleges in state are graduating 25 percent fewer licensed teachers than they did six years ago. The crisis is most acute in rural Colorado, where turnover is high.

Which brings us to Dusty Mars of Ignacio.

After spending years as an oil production foreman, where he oversaw a dozen operators and 1,000 wells, an even bigger challenge presented itself. He was tapped to teach middle school math on an emergency credential. Soon enough, he found himself with a teary student.