ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — There are 2,500 teacher openings in Louisiana, the state's education leaders said earlier this year. It's a problem that became critical during the pandemic, and schools are still struggling to fill teaching positions across the country.
Sean Taylor is a new teacher at Salmen High School in Slidell. He enthusiastically shares his deep passion for math with his students.
"I love it," Taylor said. "There is so much in mathematics. It's a beautiful subject."
Taylor has his Ph.D. and is teaching for St. Tammany Parish Schools for the first time this year.
"I tried about a year and a half of data analyst but realized education was really where I wanted to be," he said.
Taylor taught in private schools for 11 years because he needed a teaching certification to teach at a public school.
This summer he participated in the "Teach St. Tammany Alternative Certification" program which allows college graduates without teaching degrees to get certified to teach for free.
Those prospective teachers commit to three years of teaching with St. Tammany schools.
"Normally you'd have to pay $5,000+ to go through one of these programs," Taylor said.
Taylor and 23 others completed the program this summer.
"It's been greatly successful so we're hoping to grow," St. Tammany Parish Superintendent Frank Jabbia said.
Jabbia said they launched the program because it was crucial to find ways to quickly fill classrooms.
"We have to think outside the box to capture individuals who always wanted to teach and have the ability to be great teachers," he said.
In February, St. Tammany had 92 teaching openings. That's an average of 1.6 vacancies per site. They have filled some but also lost teachers. Now, according to St. Tammany schools, there are 92 teacher vacancies once again.
"It has gotten better, we did a great job of filling positions," Jabbia said.
But Brand Osborn, President of the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers says he sees the situation differently.
"I see people quit in the middle of the year," Osborn said. "The stress of the last two years has really impacted our entire workforce, and we just have not recovered."
Retired teacher Adaline Rutherford says the pandemic isn't the only reason teachers are leaving.
"I think a big issue is discipline. Teachers don't feel like the discipline policy is being mandated," Rutherford said.
Rutherford retired from a 22-year teaching career in June 2021. She is now running for school board while substituting occasionally.
"I had to wait a year because when you retire, you can't sub right away which I think is kind of crazy when we have teachers in our parish willing to go back and substitute," Rutherford said.
It's another area Jabbia has struggled to fill.
"Everybody is," Jabbia said. "Substitutes are really hard to come by right now. We're trying to think outside the box there also. We're doing huge campaign ads, social media blitz, billboards. But I think what you'll see is people are looking for employees in every facet whether it be the restaurant industry, retail, people are looking for employees."
"I think the pandemic had a huge effect on the shortage of subs because people didn't want to be in the classroom and be around kids who brought germs in," Rutherford said.
According to the St. Tammany Parish School District, 55% daily sub openings are filled.
"You have people who applied in the summer and they are still not in the system. Unbelievable," Osborn said.
He wants to see an easier application and training process to get subs in quickly. But according to the school district, the reason for any holdup is when they call applicants' references, they don't hear back.
"We cover it with people we have. Administrators are subbing, any staff we have," Jabbia said.
The teachers are also asked to step up to sacrifice their planning time for additional pay.
"You're seeing teachers give up their planning time. They get a small little stipend of $20, but what folks have to realize is that planning time is precious," Osborn said.
St. Tammany Parish Schools increased substitute pay last year. Now their subs make anywhere from $80 to $180 a day depending on education level.
"I would urge folks in the community, if you have children in the schools and you have the ability to sub, reach out to a principal, please. Not just for the money, but to help this thing stay afloat until we can get it stabilized," Osborn said.
It's not a simple fix.
"We need to show our appreciation for our teachers. It can be so little, as much as a note," Rutherford said.
"In an ideal world we would value education more as a society," Taylor said. "The last thing you want is for kids to get cheated out of an education because literally, we couldn't find a teacher."
If you might be interested in substitute teaching, contact a school principal.
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