NEWS

Search for teachers tougher than before

Chris Balusik
Reporter

CHILLICOTHE – Chillicothe City Schools Superintendent Jon Saxton doesn’t necessarily like wading into the shallow end of the pool hoping to find something special there, but that’s increasingly what those responsible for finding and hiring quality teachers across the country are having to do.

“It has been very difficult to find people in specific, typically hard-to-find areas like math, like science and foreign language,” Saxton said. “It’s been difficult to find high-quality candidates, people that you feel comfortable putting in front of a classroom of students. There have been candidates, but the quality of candidates has been difficult.

“I’ve been very happy with everybody we’ve hired, but it’s been hard to get to some of them. I’ve probably spent more time this summer on personnel than any summer before.”

The summer closed with some last-minute hiring in the district. Because of an August retirement, an open Spanish teacher position was filled the week before the start of school and interviews for a math vacancy were still going on just five days before the arrival of students.

Huntington Superintendent Keith Stevenson agreed with the difficulties, saying both the number of available applicants and, more importantly, qualified applicants is not up to past standards.

“In the last couple of years, the pool of candidates for qualified teachers has not been as deep,” he said. “When I was a high school principal, I could have hired from a pool of 80 applicants for a language arts teacher, at one point, if we posted the position on the (Ohio Department of Education) website. Recently, the pool was much, much fewer than that.

“However, we are fortunate to have recently hired two highly qualified core teachers with experience. We have our needs met now.”

A mid-August Columbus Dispatch article pointed to several central Ohio districts that were scrambling to fill positions left by increases in teacher retirements and the fact that many vacancies were occurring later than usual, putting districts behind the curve in terms of being able to pursue the best candidates.

Other publications, including The New York Times in an early August story, have showcased a teacher shortage problem existing nationwide.

In the U.S. Department of Education’s “Teacher Shortage Areas” publication released in March, it identifies a long list of subject areas in Ohio deemed as being in high-need for qualified teachers.

Among them are English and language arts, foreign languages, math, science, social studies, special education, speech and language pathology, and teaching English to speakers of other languages.

The publication also includes information on several student loan and loan forgiveness programs designed to help address teacher shortage issues.

Among them is a Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education grant that would provide up to $4,000 annually for students who agree to serve as a high-quality, full-time teacher for at least four years in a high-need field for a primary or secondary school district — public or private — that serves students from low-income families.

Finding qualified teachers isn’t the only area where districts have struggled to find personnel. Getting a deep enough pool of bus drivers has become a large enough issue that some districts, such as Zane Trace, have posted notices on the home page of their websites asking for those interested in driving to contact the district.

Zane Trace Superintendent Jerry Mowery said the district has struggled with finding people willing to take on the role of a substitute driver, which he said in his district pays in the ballpark of $13 per hour.

While he knows it can be a difficult job, he thinks the number of requirements involved with serving in that role — including such things as obtaining a commercial driver’s license and undergoing criminal background checks, among others — might be a deterrent.

Stevenson said it has become increasingly difficult to find substitute drivers, and to address the issue, Huntington recently raised the pay for substitute drivers from $12.23 per hour to $14.23 to attract more candidates.