Jackson schools still short teachers

Jackson Public Schools still faces over 200 unfilled teacher positions with less than a month to go before school starts. However, the number is down from 218 last week.

“We’re down to 206. It may be less than that — I have some on my desk I haven’t released yet,” Human Resources Director Carol Dorsey said on Monday. “We may get below 200 before the end of the night.”

Nearby East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana and Birmingham City Schools in Birmingham, Alabama, similar in demographics to Jackson, have much lower vacancy rates at this point in the year.

In East Baton Rouge Parish, there are 77 open teaching positions, which represents about 2.14 percent of the teaching staff. About 3,600 teachers are employed districtwide.

In Birmingham, 14 teaching positions still need to be filled, representing less than 1 percent of its teaching staff of 1,414.

The majority of the open positions in Jackson schools are for special education teachers. There are 35.5 openings listed on the district’s website for special education positions, 19.5 for math and 15.5 for science.

At 13, Wingfield High has the most vacancies. The Mississippi Department of Education rated Wingfield “D” in the 2013 state accountability ratings.

Dorsey said the number of vacancies in Jackson Public Schools is not unusual at this time of the year, citing several factors that contribute to unfilled positions: a slow hiring process and a break in June when the district shuts down between the end and beginning of employees’ contracts.

If positions remain unfilled at the start of the school year, certified retired teachers and substitute teachers fill in until a permanent replacement is found. In Jackson, substitute teachers are only required to have a four-year college degree, though Dorsey notes they must attend substitute teaching workshops like one the district had last week.

“We try and match them as close as possible in the area in which they received their degree,” Dorsey said.

Susan Womack, whose son graduated from Murrah High School and started at least one school year with a non-permanent teacher, said it made a difference in the classroom.

However, Womack said, the reasons for teacher vacancies are complex.

“There’s a teacher shortage, we’re the lowest paid state in the country (for teachers), and Jackson is a large, urban district not rated as highly as others around it,” said Womack, the former executive director for the education organization Parents for Public Schools. “We should be looking at how we can support teacher recruitment in our community and how we can hold the district accountable for retaining good teachers and making sure they get the support and the mentoring they need.”

Contact Kate Royals at (601) 360-4619 or kroyals@gannett.com. Follow @KRRoyals on Twitter.

BY THE NUMBERS

East Baton Rouge Parish

Total teaching staff: 3,600

Unfilled positions: 77

Birmingham City Schools

Total teaching staff: 1,414

Unfilled positions: 14

Jackson Public Schools

Total teaching staff: 2,100

Unfilled positions: 206