Some schools are combining classrooms with double the number of students. Students are seeing more of their teachers, and coaches, driving buses. And, office staff workers and administrators are pulling double duty subbing in classes.
The teacher shortage is partially due to the pandemic, but it’s much more. And, it’s a much bigger problem- it’s a shortage of employees in education across the board.
“It’s not just a Texas thing. It is a nationwide problem,” says Mary Randall who is the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Services in Mesquite ISD. “We have a shortage of care professional employees and teaching assistants, clerical people. There’s a shortage of cafeteria workers, custodians, you name it.”
Randall says MISD is addressing the problem in many ways. The district is working with long term subs trying to certify them as teachers quickly. It is offering bonuses to several potential hirees. It is developing a program to promote within. And, the district is constantly confirming its pay is comparable to other districts.
On the day the I-Team met with Randall, she was calling other counties just to make sure her salaries compared.
“We might go to a college or university and there might be eight or 10 candidates available and you’ve got 30 to 50 recruiters there… from different districts… vying for these candidates,” says Randall explaining the shortage of new teachers available.
Just 10-miles away, Dr. Kishawna Wiggins is the Recruiting Coordinator at Garland ISD.
“I don’t want to say it’s comforting but it is the comforting to know that everybody is feeling the same thing,” explains Wiggins. “We’re noticing teacher shortages, instructional aides, bus drivers, even mechanics.”
Dr. Wiggins says, with a shortage in substitutes, her central office staff and campus administrators are working one day a week in the classroom. “Until we can get someone there part or full time, we step in where we have to.”
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