Our idea is to grow teachers. We need people who really want to do this for a living, and we want to make sure they have all the education and background they need.

We know that the more education you can get -- where you can fine-tune your skills and get additional information -- the better you're going to be able to do your work.

One of our goals is to build a sense of community within the group of first- and second-year teachers that are new to the district in Ottumwa, and the other is to help orientate those teachers to our community. The bus tour accomplishes both of those goals,

The people putting on your roof, your teachers, the nurses in your hospitals — those are the people that are living there because it's what they can afford as they start out.

We are asking that this money (cost-of-living adjustment) come out of the general fund and not the teachers' retirement system.

We got two really good people. Considering we're not hiring many teachers, we got a really good deal.