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Many of us in Education have participated in numerous CD threads where members of the public castigate teachers. Teacher-haters often recommend firing entire school staffs and hiring different teachers due to poor test scores and/or discipline problems.
I have repeatedly chanted the mantra: "There are no teachers out there looking for jobs." Often, I am told that I am wrong, because their own town of Podunk has an oversupply of teachers, or that their hairdresser's niece can't find a teaching job.
Here are some definitive facts about the nationwide shortage.
QUOTE FROM ARTICLE: Why are America’s schools so short-staffed? Experts point to a confluence of factors including pandemic-induced teacher exhaustion, low pay and some educators’ sense that politicians and parents — and sometimes their own school board members — have little respect for their profession amid an escalating educational culture war...
BTW: I am a retired history teacher from California who subs in Hawaii. This state is lacking at least 1,000 credentialed teachers each year. These jobs are filled by uncertified people or subs. In many areas, only a high school diploma is required to substitute teach, yet there is still never enough.
Last edited by Futuremauian; 08-04-2022 at 03:01 PM..
Reason: Added a quote
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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America Faces Catastrophic Teacher Shortage
This is not a BAD thing.
Wake up America, you need a different education model. (3 educators staying / LT visitors in our house today)
Wish we had some international educators here at the moment, we frequently do, tho one here at the moment is from Hawaii, (USA, similar problems and culture)
Internationalteachers too get burnt out and we have met up with them around the world traveling or doing volunteer gigs. (They can have tremendous performance pressures from staff and parents, but far fewer behavior, bodily risk threats)
One thing is nice... kids are very resilent (and quite smart). They could (and do) come up with creative solutions. They could fix this, as they are the ones suffering the loss (at the moment).
Florida has a critical shortage of teachers. Hillsborough School district, which include Tampa, have a ballot initiative to raise property taxes to fund an increase in teachers' salaries.
" Florida school districts are facing a staffing crisis, with thousands of teacher vacancies still open and less than two weeks left until school starts.
According to the Florida Education Association, districts across the state are still looking to hire a total of about 9,000 teachers with the first day of school scheduled for August 10 in most districts.
Hillsborough Schools [includes Tampa] is in one of the more dire situations. The district currently has about 1,400 openings, including roughly 700 teacher positions. Superintendent Addison Davis said there's a plan to fill as many holes as possible.
Hillsborough Schools is also asking voters to pass a one millage increase, which is on the August primary ballot. If passed, this would raise property taxes based on a home's assessed value. The additional revenue would allow the district to raise teacher salaries."
Florida has a critical shortage of teachers. Hillsborough School district, which include Tampa, have a ballot initiative to raise property taxes to fund an increase in teachers' salaries.
" Florida school districts are facing a staffing crisis, with thousands of teacher vacancies still open and less than two weeks left until school starts.
According to the Florida Education Association, districts across the state are still looking to hire a total of about 9,000 teachers with the first day of school scheduled for August 10 in most districts.
Hillsborough Schools [includes Tampa] is in one of the more dire situations. The district currently has about 1,400 openings, including roughly 700 teacher positions. Superintendent Addison Davis said there's a plan to fill as many holes as possible.
Hillsborough Schools is also asking voters to pass a one millage increase, which is on the August primary ballot. If passed, this would raise property taxes based on a home's assessed value. The additional revenue would allow the district to raise teacher salaries."
Why does school start so early in FL?When did the start of school creep backwards farther and farther into August? The conventional start of the school year used to be the first Monday in September or so. I've noticed a number of states have moved it back to mid-August or earlier.
Why does school start so early in FL?When did the start of school creep backwards farther and farther into August? The conventional start of the school year used to be the first Monday in September or so. I've noticed a number of states have moved it back to mid-August or earlier.
I'm back to school already in Hawaii (my 41st year). One year we started back in late July. Currently, we start the first week of August.
My son has been saying this for the last 5 years. 15 years ago when he was entering the field there were often dozens of applications for any teaching position. Even for positions like Math. Now, when a position opens, which is now very frequent, the school he's at only get a few applications. Most of these applicants are not very experienced or are fresh out of college.
In his school, the English department always has an opening as no one stays. Administration with their micromanaging and endless documentation drives them away.
One good thing, job security for those willing to tuff it out.
Why does school start so early in FL?When did the start of school creep backwards farther and farther into August? The conventional start of the school year used to be the first Monday in September or so. I've noticed a number of states have moved it back to mid-August or earlier.
School has been starting this early in FL for at least 30-40 years. I started HS more than 30 years ago and we started in mid-August. I think for a while they pushed it back until after the 20th, but it’s since creeped back to the first or second week of August. The primary reason of this is to keep the quarters roughly the same length. I think my first year of HS we had exams after winter break. Everyone hated that and preferred to start a bit earlier to avoid it. I think that it is pretty typical now in many states. I am in Chicagoland now and while the schools in Chicago start after Labor Day, the suburban schools often start in mid-August. The high school a few blocks away from me starts the 15th. Unfortunately the other schools have no AC, so they start the last Thursday in August. A lot of schools elsewhere start as early as the first week or August or last week of July.
It's not about the money, it's about the working conditions.
Every classroom has at least one drooler, one fighter, one screamer, because they all have to be "mainstreamed". Kids of normal intelligence have to be held back so the class can progress at the pace of the slowest one, because it's illegal to separate kids by where they are with respect to grade level. Teachers are supposed to be able to show that each and every day, each and every student received individual attention and an individual grade for that class period. Every year the superintendent's mistress' educational company releases an entire new curriculum for some subject, that doesn't work as well as the old ones, but has dozens and dozens of boxes of materials that each teacher has to find room for. Class sizes are supposed to be limited to some number (30?) but that's an average so the couple of special classes that have 3 students figure in, and the real world classes are 45 students. In a room designed for 20. With one teacher and - if she's really lucky, some days an aide. You aren't permitted to send disruptive kids to the office because you're supposed to have "classroom management". If you do, it'll be reflected on your annual review. Parents run to two extremes: they're either absent/drunk/imprisoned, or they're in your hair constantly arguing why Jimmy didn't get 2 points better on Thursday's grade on class participation that you made up at 2:00 am anyway, see the above descriptions. To top it off, every day requires dozens and dozens of pages of paperwork, which isn't done on paper any more, now it's done on computer using buggy software that either doesn't work or requires ten times the effort it shouldn't, but that's because it was bought from the superintendent's mistress' brother-in-law.
And if you're teaching in junior high or high school, you'd better be physically imposing otherwise you may find yourself stuffed in a locker some day.
And all of this is the fault of the teachers, anytime anyone ever says anything in public about it.
Why on earth would anyone want to work under these conditions?
Why does school start so early in FL?When did the start of school creep backwards farther and farther into August? The conventional start of the school year used to be the first Monday in September or so. I've noticed a number of states have moved it back to mid-August or earlier.
Because a large proportion of kids lose several months during the summer so that teachers have to spend the first two or three months reviewing the previous year.
Just as a note, it's the same student cohort that every single "education reform" initiative over the last almost forty years now has been aimed at.
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Currently, we start the first week of August.