Cause: How Did We End Up With A Teacher Shortage? By Wynne Bendell
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ophomore Jabob Pardilla is frustrated. He started this school year with no math teacher and has dealt with numerous different substitutes, none of which were qualified to be teaching math. “It’s been difficult because I’ve had one class where I’ve been trying my hardest in, and over the past couple of months that school has started it’s been a wavering experience. It’s really upsetting for me and a lot of other students that I know.” Pardilla said The absence of teachers in classrooms, and few substitutes to fill in for them, has been an issue for many years in SLZUSD, however, this year the problem seems to be drawing more attention than in previous years. Thousands of teaching positions are open country-wide, with twelve open in our district as of November 9, 2021. This number is just a fraction of what was happening at the beginning of the year. According to Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jessica Saavedra, at the start of the 2021-2022 school year, SLZUSD had seventy-eight unfilled teaching positions, with 21 uncovered class sections at AHS. One reason is that last year alone twenty-six teachers retired in the district. Not only is there a lack of fulltime teachers, but a shortage of substitutes. Current teachers at AHS are now forced to relinquish their prep periods to substitute for other classes. Saavedra helps make decisions about staff in the district, such as training and hiring new teachers. She believes the reason that SLZUSD is struggling during this crisis is that we simply can’t keep up with other districts in the fight for
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new staff. “The reality is that the teacher shortage is real, one of the biggest challenges is that we are competing with neighboring districts that pay more or have other kinds of benefits that we are not able to compete with,” Saavedra said AHS principal Angela Webster acknowledges that teachers’ low salaries come into play when discussing the staff shortage. Webster believes that one of the challenges that come with hiring and retaining teachers is the high cost of living in the Bay Area. “I think it has to do with money, living in the Bay Area is expensive, a lot of people are moving because it’s more affordable or are looking for districts who pay more,” said Webster. However, she feels the issue at this time that is largely to blame is COVID and how scary it can be to work during these unprecedented times. “I think people are in fear of working in schools and working in the classroom. I think the pandemic has a lot to do with it, a lot of people retired, but I think it has a lot to do with fear.” Webster said Former AHS math teacher Jessie Fischer stopped teaching in 2019 and has not returned to the classroom. Fischer has endured the frustration of being underpaid and overworked similar to many other teachers, however, she has an especially difficult experience working in SLZUSD, where the faculty is paid even less than the surrounding districts. “Before I was a teacher I came from a pretty low-paying hourly job and so this was my first real-life job. I thought the pay was pretty great because I didn’t really know anything else besides what I was getting” said Mrs. Fischer. “So when I started I was really thankful for
having the pay I was getting, but as I started to research and hear about other districts and how they made significantly more dollars than me for the same job just right next door, like San Leandro. I could have moved to San Leandro and made ten thousand more dollars a year, just by switching over. So that was really upsetting and kind of like a mood killer.” For Fischer it wasn’t just about the money or COVID, there was one more factor controlled by the school that contributed to her leave. It was the lack of support from the previous administration that made the job that she loved so dearly, not as enjoyable as it should have been. “Teaching was already really tough before COVID. For me there was COVID and I could deal with that, I could deal with doing it online, it was risky before the vaccine but now I feel a little more safe but really for me, it’s the workload. I cannot handle the workload and be a mom. The last year I taught was the hardest year I ever taught. I just really did not feel supported by the admin.” Fischer said. There are many reasons for the staff shortage at AHS, but what is most important is that the district is trying its hardest to fix the problem. Saavedra discloses that the district is taking action and starting a process that usually takes place later in the year, now, so we will hopefully not see this same issue next year. “We are being more proactive. Usually, the process begins towards January and February where we try to identify areas we can anticipate a need [for new staff]. We have already started that process.”
