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School districts affected by teacher shortage

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – As school districts enter the final stretch of preparations before a new school year, administrators say they continue to feel the effects of a statewide teacher shortage.

“What we thought were going to be easy-to-fill positions, [including] English, has not been,” said Lafayette School Corporation Superintendent Les Huddle. “Can’t give you a reason other than, maybe, the total downturn in the number of applicants – the number of students going into the field of teaching.”

This week, Huddle said the district was still working to fill seven job openings.

“Our HR department has been working feverishly trying to fill the positions,” Huddle said. “Our principals are out as soon as they get a lean on candidates – they’re contacting them, getting them in, checking their skill sets, backgrounds checks, doing all those things.”

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported a 63 percent drop in the number of first time Indiana teacher licenses between the 2009-2010 school year and 2013-2014.

Tippecanoe School Corporation Superintendent Scott Hanback said his district has seen a declining pool of applicants.

“It really depends on the department, on the grade level, on the subject area as to how significantly we feel those declines,” Hanback said, mentioning math, science, special education and the elementary level as examples.

“Some years in the past, we might have had upwards of 85 to 100 applicants for one position whereas this summer that number seems to be closer to 40 or 50,” Hanback continued. “While that is alarming, the applicants that we do have and the teachers we ultimately do hire – it’s a very strong candidate pool. We’re still attracting outstanding candidates…we’re just seeing fewer of them.”

Some educators have said state funding constraints, testing pressure, and a blame-the-teachers mentality have steered people away from education.

“We have younger and younger teaching candidates that aren’t going into the field because of…war stories that they’re hearing. Some of it’s fact, some it is fiction,” said Huddle. “In the world of education, we’re not doing a good enough job of selling our profession that it is still a good career, a good profession to go into.”

Over the last few years, Hanback said his district has broadened their recruitment strategy to include national websites.

“We are starting to see applicants from other states who are desiring to take a position in Indiana or even locally,” said Hanback. “Teaching is a very rewarding profession. It’s not for everybody. It’s a calling. It’s a sense of purpose.”