Back to school: Teacher vacancies place kids at disadvantage; how Philly district is seeking solutions

Philly still in need of teachers as first day of class approaches

The School District of Philadelphia is still short nearly 400 teachers. The district is seeking solutions to ease first day concerns.

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers estimates city schools have at least 400 vacancies in the ranks of its teachers at a time when schools across the county are seeing a shortage of instructors.

The union reports Randolph High, a career and technical school in Nicetown-Tioga, is short one teacher and seven special education assistants just days before schools open. It’s a concern they’re hearing across the district.

The Chief of Staff of the PFT, LeShawna Coleman, said, "Our members are reporting classes that are oversized as a result of the vacancies and they are also reporting that we have a lot of special ed. assistant vacancies."

The union said class size is capped at 30 students for kindergarten through 3rd grade, and 33 for 4th through 12th grades. Oversized classes will force the school district to open more classrooms, union leadership said, at a time when the PFT estimates city public schools have those 400 vacancies.

Superintendent Tony Watlington has said, "Will we have some vacancies? It will cause some headaches for us absolutely, but we’re going to take care of our kids."

In a wide-ranging, back to school interview last week, Watlington said the district has 95 percent of the teachers it needs and placed the vacancy number at "a few hundred." Asked by FOX 29 if some kids are going into classrooms without permanent teachers in front of them, Watlington said, "They’re going into classrooms with a competent and caring adult who is qualified in delivering instruction."

Schools across the country are facing a shortage of teachers as fewer students enter the profession and teachers leave at a higher rate. Teacher vacancies in poorer districts are an added concern because students arrive with greater needs. Watlington argued last week the district was continuing to recruit and was expanding its recruiting footprint outside of Pennsylvania.

The union said it’s focused on making city schools a "more attractive place to work" in hopes of putting more qualified instructors at the head of the class. Coleman, of the PFT, said the teacher shortage means, "Children will start the year without a full-time teacher in place. That’s not a good idea for a child in Philadelphia. We want to make sure our students have as much stability as they possibly could have."

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