“It was pretty chaotic,” Brady said. “I wish I could clone myself because I can’t go to every kid who needs help.” Located between Phoenix and Tucson, Casa Grande has struggled to find teachers for years, hiring about 30 from the Philippines each year to fill the gap. But this disturbing trend is reaching a more dire point. Jennifer Kortsen, a spokeswoman for the district, says in her 29 years here, she’s never seen such a shortage. “I’ve never started a school year where we’ve had so many vacancies and it’s really sad,” Kortsen said. “We’ve posted it, we’ve gone to job fairs, and there just aren’t any teachers out there right now.” After two years of dealing with pandemic health concerns, learning loss and intense public scrutiny, teacher burnout is rising nationwide. Jennifer Zanardi just quit her job as a middle school teacher in Palm Beach, Florida, to become a recruiting firm. He says relatively low pay was a big factor, but political pressure and the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill were the tipping points. She found herself working longer hours and walking on eggshells. “The public was actually saying that the teachers were trying to indoctrinate the students,” Zanardi said. “It affected my mental health and my anxiety in a huge way.” Enrollment in teacher preparation programs is also plummeting, falling 33 percent between 2010 and 2020 — a trend that has only intensified during the pandemic, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Schools are competing for a shrinking pool of teachers, and wealthier suburban districts are winning over those with fewer resources, especially rural schools and those that support more low-income families and students of color. “(Teachers) don’t go to the schools that are the most disadvantaged,” said Chad Aldeman, policy director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. “The same schools that struggled in 2019 are struggling even worse in 2022.” In Prince George’s County, Maryland, where there is a high concentration of poverty, at least 8 percent of teaching positions in the public school district are vacant, more than double from last year, according to the teachers union. Dr. Donna Christie, the president of the Prince George’s County Association of Teachers, sees a race to fill the void. “It definitely feels like there’s been an exit,” Christie said. “They’re leaving the profession, but they’re also leaving for other areas. Where there’s higher pay, where there’s better working conditions, where they feel more support or have heard there’s more support.” Geva Hickman-Johnson, a high school English teacher in Prince George’s County, just found out she will need to prepare lessons for the new substitutes in her department. She also expects her class sizes to grow. “It means my students may not have the best teacher this year,” Hickman-Johnson said. “I might not be able to be at my best because I’m being pulled in so many different directions that I won’t be able to really focus on the students I’m in front of every day. It’s hard .” In addition to the loss of learning during the pandemic, many teachers across the country have also noticed a deterioration in student behavior. At a time when many students need more attention, Christy fears they will receive less. “They fall through the cracks before,” he said. “It will be like opening the floodgates. It will be very difficult to keep up with our struggling students.” Like many districts, Prince George’s County Public Schools is now scrambling to fill those empty classrooms, changing staff, raising subscription fees and combining classes when necessary. States are getting creative to fill vacancies, though some of the plans are controversial. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking veterans without teaching degrees to lead classrooms. “It was a slap in the face,” Jennifer Zanardi said. “Like what you do doesn’t matter, your education doesn’t matter, anybody can do what you do. And that’s just not true. We’re professionals.” Casa Grande Elementary School District is one of several that have moved to a four-day week to retain staff — a strategy they say has helped them keep several teachers. The high school district is looking to hire more out-of-state teachers. In some classrooms, paraeducators without subject expertise teach lessons prepared by certified teachers, such as Stacy Brady. “I’m thinking about myself,” Brady said. “I struggled with math. And if I was sitting in that class, I needed help, I had questions, I needed someone to break it down in a different way, and there was no one who had the content knowledge to do that, (it would) shut down. And I think a lot of our students might shut down as well.” Brady expects to lead classes of more than 70 students, if not all year. She fears the teacher shortage at Casa Grande will worsen. “My biggest fear, I think, is that some kid gets hurt in some way, emotionally or physically,” she said. “And I can’t see it because there are so many students in the room.”

title: “Because Teachers Are Burning Out And Leaving Districts Scrambling To Fill Jobs Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-11” author: “Lydia Alkire”

“It was pretty chaotic,” Brady said. “I wish I could clone myself because I can’t go to every kid who needs help.” Located between Phoenix and Tucson, Casa Grande has struggled to find teachers for years, hiring about 30 from the Philippines each year to fill the gap. But this disturbing trend is reaching a more dire point. Jennifer Kortsen, a spokeswoman for the district, says in her 29 years here, she’s never seen such a shortage. “I’ve never started a school year where we’ve had so many vacancies and it’s really sad,” Kortsen said. “We’ve posted it, we’ve gone to job fairs, and there just aren’t any teachers out there right now.” After two years of dealing with pandemic health concerns, learning loss and intense public scrutiny, teacher burnout is rising nationwide. Jennifer Zanardi just quit her job as a middle school teacher in Palm Beach, Florida, to become a recruiting firm. He says relatively low pay was a big factor, but political pressure and the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill were the tipping points. She found herself working longer hours and walking on eggshells. “The public was actually saying that the teachers were trying to indoctrinate the students,” Zanardi said. “It affected my mental health and my anxiety in a huge way.” Enrollment in teacher preparation programs is also plummeting, falling 33 percent between 2010 and 2020 — a trend that has only intensified during the pandemic, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Schools are competing for a shrinking pool of teachers, and wealthier suburban districts are winning over those with fewer resources, especially rural schools and those that support more low-income families and students of color. “(Teachers) don’t go to the schools that are the most disadvantaged,” said Chad Aldeman, policy director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. “The same schools that struggled in 2019 are struggling even worse in 2022.” In Prince George’s County, Maryland, where there is a high concentration of poverty, at least 8 percent of teaching positions in the public school district are vacant, more than double from last year, according to the teachers union. Dr. Donna Christie, the president of the Prince George’s County Association of Teachers, sees a race to fill the void. “It definitely feels like there’s been an exit,” Christie said. “They’re leaving the profession, but they’re also leaving for other areas. Where there’s higher pay, where there’s better working conditions, where they feel more support or have heard there’s more support.” Geva Hickman-Johnson, a high school English teacher in Prince George’s County, just found out she will need to prepare lessons for the new substitutes in her department. She also expects her class sizes to grow. “It means my students may not have the best teacher this year,” Hickman-Johnson said. “I might not be able to be at my best because I’m being pulled in so many different directions that I won’t be able to really focus on the students I’m in front of every day. It’s hard .” In addition to the loss of learning during the pandemic, many teachers across the country have also noticed a deterioration in student behavior. At a time when many students need more attention, Christy fears they will receive less. “They fall through the cracks before,” he said. “It will be like opening the floodgates. It will be very difficult to keep up with our struggling students.” Like many districts, Prince George’s County Public Schools is now scrambling to fill those empty classrooms, changing staff, raising subscription fees and combining classes when necessary. States are getting creative to fill vacancies, though some of the plans are controversial. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking veterans without teaching degrees to lead classrooms. “It was a slap in the face,” Jennifer Zanardi said. “Like what you do doesn’t matter, your education doesn’t matter, anybody can do what you do. And that’s just not true. We’re professionals.” Casa Grande Elementary School District is one of several that have moved to a four-day week to retain staff — a strategy they say has helped them keep several teachers. The high school district is looking to hire more out-of-state teachers. In some classrooms, paraeducators without subject expertise teach lessons prepared by certified teachers, such as Stacy Brady. “I’m thinking about myself,” Brady said. “I struggled with math. And if I was sitting in that class, I needed help, I had questions, I needed someone to break it down in a different way, and there was no one who had the content knowledge to do that, (it would) shut down. And I think a lot of our students might shut down as well.” Brady expects to lead classes of more than 70 students, if not all year. She fears the teacher shortage at Casa Grande will worsen. “My biggest fear, I think, is that some kid gets hurt in some way, emotionally or physically,” she said. “And I can’t see it because there are so many students in the room.”