MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — The realities of a teacher shortage haven’t disappeared in North Carolina schools.
“It's become an increasing challenge for not just our school-based positions, but our non-instructional, central office building services,” Robert Ellyson, Executive Director of Talent Acquisition for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, said.
More than halfway through the school year, CMS has more teacher vacancies than it did at the beginning of the school year.
In August 2022 WCNC Charlotte reported the district needed 370 teachers. As of Feb 2023, it needs 391.
Vacancies represent the number of open positions for permanently licensed teachers.
As a stop-gap measure, these positions are filled in real-time with guest and substitute teachers. Some permanent teachers may also experience larger class sizes or cover additional classrooms.
On Wednesday, CMS held a job fair to try and fill hundreds of teacher and operations positions.
“This is a new partnership with NCWorks and with our Charlotte library system that we continue to want to grow and to have more events like this,” Ellyson said.
NCWorks is a workforce development training and hiring company.
A recently released state report shows teacher vacancies statewide have gone up by the thousands in the last year alone.
North Carolina tallies the number of teacher vacancies in each district on the first day of school and the 40th day of school.
In the 2021-22 school year, there were 3,800 vacant teacher positions across the state on the first day of school. In the current school year, 2022-23, the number increased to 5,540.
State leaders reported 40 days into the school year, North Carolina schools only filled 449 of those teacher vacancies statewide. Compared to the 2021-22 school year where it was able to fill 583 positions 40 days into the year.
The report also noted some changes to how a vacancy is defined may have inflated the teacher vacancy report. But nonetheless, it highlighted how teacher vacancies this far into the year hurt students directly.
“While these numbers may appear small for state-wide totals, one must bear in mind that each vacancy represents a classroom of students that does not have a certified, permanent teacher as of the 40th instructional day,” the report stated. “With nearly a quarter of the school year complete by the 40th instructional day, there will likely be a negative effect on the academic achievement of the students in these classrooms.
Ellyson explained at least one reason the district is seeing a similar number of teacher vacancies more than halfway through the school year.
“We have people that we are hiring throughout the year, all year, we have people resigning throughout the year,” Ellyson said.
Ellyson said the job fair had a good turnout.
Joseph Campos is one of many Americans that decided to switch paths during the pandemic.
“I spent the last 25 years of plus in higher education,” Campos said. “I had a milestone birthday this past year and decided to do something new.”
Campos took the leap of leaving his job, which wasn’t directly tied to K-12 education, for a new gig.
“Unfortunately, it didn't work out and now I find myself back in the job market and due to a layoff,” Campos said.
It’s why he decided to try his luck at the CMS job fair hoping to learn more about the K-12 field.
“I spoke with a professional here to talk about a pathway to teaching and getting the certification for teaching,” Campos said.
North Carolina offers people with a college degree unrelated to K-12 teaching a way to earn their professional educator license without going back to school for a degree in education.
People like Campos are exactly what recruiters at CMS are looking for to fill hundreds of teacher vacancies.
“We have our alternative pathway, which if you went to college got a degree and you did something else and now you want to try teaching,” Ellyson said. “We have that group that we are aggressively pursuing."
Ellyson said 55% of CMS beginning teachers come to work for CMS this way.
Despite this recruiting tactic, the district is facing a problem it can’t control.
A state report shows people going into programs to become teachers in North Carolina is dropping dramatically.
“We are not seeing the teachers that are traditionally changed, trained, come out of schools and ready to teach,” Ellyson said. “So that pipeline is becoming smaller and smaller.”
North Carolina’s educator prep program enrolment fell by 42% last year. Education prep programs include school residency programs, statewide colleges of education, and for-profit teacher preparation programs.
Ellyson said for the past 10-15 years the district has dealt with these issues and it's why setting up job fairs in the community is vital.
“We are successful when we can find teachers, and when we can find bus drivers, and cafeteria workers, custodian, so on and so forth," Ellyson said. "It's a good day."
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.