School Districts Challenged by Staffing Shortages

Statewide, the number of new teachers has plummeted.

“Ten years ago, 20,000 new teachers were entering the field each year. Last year, only 6,000 did so,” said acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education Eric Hagarty on Sept. 30.

Representatives for local schools told The Centre County Gazette what impact the educator staffing shortage has had on their schools and what they’re doing about it.

Danielle Yoder, the State College Area School District assistant superintendent of elementary education, said, “It is challenging to do any professional development or conferences or curriculum development because we don’t have substitutes to cover classes. Currently, we are seeing a decline in applications for many positions. We are very fortunate that we have been able to hire for all positions, but in some cases, we have had to hire under emergency certification.”

Linda Pierce, SCASD human resources executive director, said the district advertises positions on national websites, at career fairs and with universities. It encourages student internships that could result in new hires.

“We are trying to support everyone by using a culture of care model and working collaboratively with our teachers,” Yoder said.

“The Bellefonte Area School District has experienced a decline in applications for all positions within the district,” said Michelle Simpson, BASD director of human resources. “Expanded advertising and creative ways to encourage people to apply for open positions have not yielded enough interest to be fully staffed. Our most successful advertising method continues to be word of mouth and people telling others that our district is a great place to work.”

She said the stressors from not being fully staffed include employee burnout, decreased employment satisfaction and increased workload, work hours and absenteeism. “The key to retention in any industry, not just education, is employees feeling valued by supervisors and the organization as a whole.”

The executive director of Central Intermediate Unit 10, Francine Endler, said it has been challenging to hire classroom assistants, paraprofessionals and specialized positions in occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech and language pathology. CIU 10 seeks applicants by posting jobs on its website and statewide distribution lists, attending job fairs and encouraging its employees to share job openings with others.

“CIU 10 provides many positives that help to retain our staff,” Endler said. “We have competitive salaries and benefit packages, as well as schedules that align to those similar to school districts for some of our positions. We work to engage our employees at all levels of the organization.”

Brian Griffith, superintendent of the Penns Valley Area School District, said, “We’ve had to consolidate some of our classes, decrease some elective offerings and in some cases, we’ve had to subcontract some of our services. We had nice class sizes, some in the teens. Now we have a class of 30 in a classroom that holds 27.”

He said PVASD has fewer applicants for middle school and high school positions. It advertised for a Spanish teacher or another world language teacher but got no applications. It is recruiting for additional openings, including a school psychologist and a math teacher.

Griffith said the district can hire conditional employees if they have bachelor’s degrees, possess good content knowledge, relate well with students and allow the school district to train them. They need to obtain their teaching certification during their employment. “I have a military RN nurse who’s not certified as a school nurse and is getting her certification.”

“Our new application and posting process has expanded our reach,” he said. “We’ve interviewed and hired people from Alaska and interviewed a Spanish teacher from South Korea. We’re able to move through the early stages remotely. We have individuals who come to Penn State and their spouses take a teaching job. It can be a real blessing for students to get diverse teachers. I’d love to see a greater and more diverse applicant pool.”

He said the district hired an applicant that trained as a mechanical engineer but loved teaching. “Sometimes those content knowledge folks, especially if they have work experience beyond the classroom, can bring a lot to students,” he said.

Griffith said Penns Valley Area School District increased support personnel compensation last November. His district funds most or all of the cost of continuing education, and it pays more for experience.

When asked about changes that might help, Griffith said, “The pipeline problem. Pennsylvania is currently certifying only 30 percent of the number of teachers they certified 10 years ago. We need a conversation about why people aren’t considering education as a profession.

“We’re going to have to compensate people more,” he said. “The wage has to be competitive. How do we improve teacher wages and be fair to the taxpayers? I think this is one of the contributing factors. Wages have not kept pace with other professions that have similar entry requirements.

“In the 2009-10 school year, the state cut a billion dollars out of the basic education fund,” he said. “It took eight to 10 years to catch up with where we were. We weren’t hiring, so people weren’t going into it.”

When asked what he would tell someone considering an education career, Griffith said, “If you want to be uplifted, you really need to talk with our students. You get something back from them as well. I’m hoping there are some people out there who want to get engaged, have some fun and share knowledge with students.”

Endler said, “The profession of education is one of the most exciting and impactful career paths that someone could choose. We can all think of a teacher/educator who has had a positive impact on our lives. By joining the team at CIU 10, you have the opportunity to impact children, families and the communities in a three-county region and get to be part of dynamic, professional teams.”

“It’s a great profession, and if you like to collaborate with colleagues and help children, it’s a great job,” Merritt said. “You can make a difference in people’s lives.”

Simpson said, “The reward of watching graduates cross the stage each year and knowing you played a part in the students’ success is absolutely priceless.”

This story appears in the Nov. 23-30 edition of The Centre County Gazette.