There’s been a nationwide teacher shortage since the pandemic and it’s still going on as we head into a new school year.
It’s less than three weeks until the start of the new school semester and local districts are doing everything they can to hire and retain the right educators.
Being fully staffed with teachers going into the new semester is the goal for all local education agencies in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Now, some districts are sharing how this year’s numbers are weighing in.
Right now Anne Arundel County Public Schools have 224 vacancies last year, this time it was 351.
Baltimore County Public schools have 268 vacant teacher positions.
Baltimore City public Schools haven’t confirmed their teacher vacancies but said as of this time last year they were short 225 positions.
Some educators like Destiny Thrweatt and Elvis Twesigye both recently accepted positions as teachers in Baltimore County. They believe although the teacher shortage was exacerbated by the pandemic, teachers were already experiencing burn out.
“Its very, very vital that we have people that are able to teach and come in and make sure that we have people educating the next generation,” Thrweatt said.
“ We need teachers right now, more students need guidance. There are many factors that bring the teacher shortages, number one right now with the economy people need to earn some good money. When I was a teacher before, I wasn’t making enough money, that’s why I left the industry and went to health industry,” Twesigye said.
Twesigye, who’s a science teacher, said it’s been five years since he taught inside a classroom. However, he decided to come out of retirement and help out with the shortage.
Each school district is actively working to recruit and onboard more teachers before the start of school.
Both Thrweatt and Twesigye had a message for teachers ahead of the semester and anyone thinking about ways to improve the issue.
“ Be yourself, trust the unknown. Be yourself, always work on yourself. Remember that you’re impacting your future, you’re impacting your confidence. Keep working, keep grinding,” Thrweatt said.
“ We need to induce people to come back to teaching and how do we induce them? Better pay, better benefits, and improve schools ,” Twesigye said.
There are lots of other positions within the school districts that also need to be filled like bus drivers , crossing guards and custodians.
