Board hears plan to combat teacher vacancies: mentoring, Praxis tutors and targeted virtual options discussed
Summary
Committee members discussed 169 reported teacher vacancies and district efforts to support permit teachers — including mentoring, monthly milestone checks, Praxis tutors and study.com access — while board members asked for school‑level vacancy lists and a plan for virtual instruction in some high‑school courses.
District staff told the Academic Committee they are deploying multiple strategies to address teacher vacancies and support permit teachers.
Crystal Oliver, in human resources, reported the district had 169 teacher vacancies: 96 in elementary (K–8), 26 in middle school and 47 in high school/CCTE, and provided counts of certified and non‑certified staff by level. “Currently, we have 169 teacher vacancies,” Oliver said.
Rachel Addison, who oversees performance and leadership development, described supports for permit teachers: one‑to‑one mentoring for first‑year teachers and 1:3 ratios for years two and three, content‑specific professional learning, Praxis tutors to help candidates prepare for licensure tests, study.com practice tests, and monthly milestone checks to monitor progress toward certification. “We have Praxis tutors... and study.com that is a practice Praxis test platform that we provide to our permit teachers,” Addison said.
Board members asked for more data: which schools are using virtual learning, the names of schools that report critical vacancies, how many certified substitutes are serving as long‑term coverage, and how many permit teachers are in each cohort. Administration committed to providing school‑level vacancy lists, certified‑substitute counts and the virtual learning roster.
The board discussed immediate mitigation options including expanding virtual certified instruction for some high‑school courses and redeploying certified middle‑school teachers to high‑school sections where certification allows. Staff cautioned that many vacancies are covered by certificated substitutes or proximity/virtual teachers and said principals should flag specific classes that need permanent coverage.
The committee asked the administration to return a recommendation showing how the district will exhaust available resources — virtual, in‑person, and substitute pools — to reduce vacancies and support permit teachers’ paths to full licensure.
