School District of Philadelphia facing teacher shortage as students prepare to go back to school

PHILADELPHIA - The School District of Philadelphia is dealing with hundreds of open teaching spots that still need to be filled and the start of the school year is a week away.

What does it take to become a teacher and why aren’t more young people entering the profession?

That’s a question the district is trying to address, following some troubling data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education showing the number of teachers in Pennsylvania is dropping.

"We have about 9,000 teachers across the district and, right now, we’re at 95.1 percent capacity and last year, we were at 98 percent capacity," Jerry Jordan, President of Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, stated.

That has left the district with some 200 teaching positions left to fill.

Quentelle Fambrl is a mother with five students in the district. She says many underestimate how intense teaching can be.

"That’s not an easy job. It’s probably hard to get people to come in. We definitely gotta do better," Fambrl said.

The school district has had several job fairs, in an attempt to recruit new teachers.

Jordan says one of the biggest hurdles for city schools is teacher poaching from other districts.

"In Philadelphia, we’re competing now with the suburban districts who are offering jobs to our teachers currently in the system," Jordan explained.

One critique of the profession is kids are simply unruly and have behavioral issues. District spokesperson, Monique Braxton, says that an oversimplification of a complex home life many students have.

"They’re trying to go to sleep and they hear gunfire. It’s not easy, so quite often, those challenges come or burdens to bare, as some people refer to it, as they come home," Braxton explained. "They also come to school with it, so our teachers have to be ready and equipped to give them extra doses of love."