You say you want me to teach WHERE?

From John Curry, July 21, 2007
Subject: You say you want me to teach WHERE?

This article came from an Athens (Georgia) newspaper, the Athens Banner-Herald. Well, recruiters from Savanna, GA "rushed" to the Dayton, OH area to try to recruit for "their" public schools! Why Dayton? Well, thanks (in part) to the Ohio charter school movement (compliments of our state legislature) and the resultant massive lay-offs at the Dayton City Schools...these recruiters flocked to good ol' Dayton for educators! Kinda' reminds one of the great "flight" of labor during WW II from the southern states to the northern factory areas IN REVERSE, doesn't it?

Meanwhile in GA, classroom educators are in demand...due in part to GA mandated "progressive" law which calls for smaller classes! This doesn't speak well for the state of public education in the State of Ohio, does it? Sad....a very sad commentary indeed!! John

P. S. Remember that rose-colored prediction of growth in payroll contributions that was recently bandied about to the STRS Board re. projected Ohio's public school payroll revenues that STRS could count on? Remember when Dr. Leone questioned this estimate? I do!

Many schools still short

State tries to solve teacher shortage
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
Story updated at 10:26 PM on Friday, July 20, 2007

ATLANTA - When schools open for teacher work days in the next two weeks, many desks across Georgia will be empty as administrators try to solve a teacher shortage.

In Savannah, for example, the district is 60 teachers short of the 450 needed, according to Ramon Ray, director of employment services at the Savannah-Chatham County Schools.

The actual statewide shortage hasn't been calculated yet, but it's ranged from 400-1,000 in the last three years as the number of teachers needed steadily has grown.

For instance, schools in Georgia needed 4,000 more teachers last year than for the 2005-06 school year, but school districts had to hire 14,000 to fill every spot after retirements and resignations were figured in, according to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, the agency charged with placing qualified instructors in classrooms

That's like filling a bucket that's leaking out 9.1 percent each year, a figure that's projected to rise to 9.8 percent by 2012 as older recent hires approach retirement age.

Then there's a state law requiring smaller classes, which adds to the number of teachers needed.

A recent analysis by the state Department of Audits and Accounts summed it up:

"While the commission should be commended for its recruiting efforts and its work to identify the degree of the problem facing the state, indications are that additional action by the state is necessary," the auditors wrote.

The challenge isn't new to Cyndy Stephens, director of recruitment, research and development at the commission.

"I don't know of a school year that ever happened that we had everybody in place when the first school bell rang," said the former teacher and principal.

The 15 public colleges in the state that educate future teachers only produce about one fourth of the new teachers needed, even though they're on a campaign to double their output.

"It's hard to attract teachers when the whole problem is they don't exist," Ray said.

So the commission and local districts have gotten aggressive about getting teachers from other places, like wooing back teachers who have been out of the field for a while and recruiting from neighboring states and even New York.

Savannah recruiters rushed to Dayton, Ohio, in May after 400 teachers there were laid off, but only one agreed to leave familiar surroundings to accept the offer to "teach near the beach."

Then there are the career changers who take advantage of recent law changes that allow people with college degrees in other fields to begin teaching after a short orientation without immediately having to return to college for a degree in education.

Principals across the state surveyed by the audits department rated 89 percent of alternative-route instructors as performing satisfactorily.

"We've had good success with it," said Bud Bierly, director of human resources in the Clarke County School District. "The vast majority of those we've taken through the (Teacher Alternative Preparation Program) we've been well satisfied with them."

Stephens said the commission is focusing on quality despite the rising demand and resisting the temptation to accept weaker applicants just to fill every position. Poor teachers don't last long, requiring that position to be filled again.

"We don't want just a warm body, and we don't want our retention rates to suffer," she said.