Sacramento City Unified teacher vacancies mean hundreds of students are taught by substitutes
More than three weeks into the school year, several hundred Sacramento City Unified School District students are being taught by substitutes as school officials continue to look for teachers to staff classrooms.
The district estimates that about 46 classrooms have teaching vacancies, which officials said is normal for this time of year. But the Sacramento City Teachers Association said that there are about 100 certificated vacancies, including counselors and nurses. More than 1,000 students are being affected, sometimes being taught electives and required courses by substitutes who are not experienced in subjects like Spanish and art.
Math, science and special education positions are the hardest to fill, according to the district, both in Sacramento and statewide. Sacramento City Unified vacancies include six math teachers and five science teachers. Special Education has 14 vacancies.
Some Sacramento schools are seeing a high concentration of teacher vacancies, amid a nationwide teacher shortage.
Rosa Parks Elementary School held the highest concentration of vacancies. Six positions were still open in science, social science, and English classrooms.
C.K. McClatchy High School had three vacancies in English, biology and social science classrooms.
The Sacramento City Teachers Association estimated hundreds of students at McClatchy High are affected by the teacher shortage, and will be instructed by at least one substitute during their school day.
Lori Jablonski, a government teacher at McClatchy High, surveyed one class of 32 students during the first week of school.
“I asked [students] how many subs they had for three periods a day; 16 raised their hands. I asked how many had subs for four periods a day; four raised their hands,” she said. “Because these classes did not start with permanent teachers, no one at the school site has been leaving lesson plans either, as a permanent teacher would do when calling a sub.”
Since then, the high school has filled three math positions and an art class position. Jablonski said several Spanish classes are being taught by a substitute, but the position is not posted as a vacancy.
Substitutes take positions for a maximum of 30 days, and if a teacher isn’t hired, a new substitute is CONTINUE READING: Sacramento teacher shortage means students taught by substitutes | The Sacramento Bee