With fewer students majoring in education, the nation’s schools are beginning to see a teacher shortage.
In the United States, 86 percent of schools are being affected by this shortage. George County High School Principal Chip Menton believes that this lack of teachers is due to a low salary. When teachers are offered another job at a large, well paying company, they will take the opportunity.
“They know that they can go somewhere else and make more money,” Menton said.
Teaching is not a job for everyone. While some might say that one of the main reasons for teachers leaving the classroom is the students’ behavior, it all comes down to the teachers themselves.
“It takes a special person, and sometimes, some people, they’re just not cut out for it,” Menton said.
Years ago, education was the most popular college major, but in recent decades it has become less popular. Mississippi awarded 932 education degrees in Elementary Education in 2020.
Many people do not have the patience to deal with students, so they decide not to become a teacher at all. The district is working on this problem, reaching out to colleges to see if any graduates would be willing to teach at any of the schools.
Human Resources Department Director Phyllis McDonald says that there are two vacant positions in the George County School District. The special education department is typically where vacancies are located, and to help fix this issue, the district is offering to pay the registration fees for the praxis exam which one must pass to be able to teach special education.
The positions open at the high school are hoping to be filled by next semester.
“We never know what’s going to happen in December,” McDonald said.
Instructor Holly Hulbert thinks that the Teacher Academy program is a good way to get students interested in being in the education field in their near future. Teacher Academy helps students realize whether teaching is for them or not. It is required that the students that graduate from this program are checked up on, and many of them do go on to be teachers.
“They’re able to see if they’re interested in it before making a career,” Hulbert said.
Superintendent Wade Whitney says that the teacher shortage can be resolved by drawing people in to be teachers.
“We have got to make education a career that folks want to go into,” Whitney said. Like Menton, Whitney believes that only some people are cut out for teaching “Being an educator is a calling,” Whitney said.
Around 300,000 teachers retire each year, leaving more positions to be filled. Math teacher Tracey Fryfogle is one of these teachers leaving the profession.
“I know a whole lot of really good teachers, because of the stress and everything that have left,” Fryfogle said.
There are many reasons why teachers are leaving, but once the teachers are here in George County, it is easier to keep them here.
As this problem continues to arise, the district is working to make up for the loss of teachers. Efforts are being made to make sure that all classrooms are filled and schools are not negatively affected in any way.
