POLK COUNTY, Fla. — As a nationwide teacher shortage persists, schools in the Tampa Bay area don't have enough short-term teachers to fill in the gaps.
“He’ll be graduating in a couple of years and he’s not going to have an education,” said Billy Stephenson.
Billy Stephenson was surprised to learn her grandson who attends Tenoroc High School in Lakeland, was spending two to three hours inside of the school auditorium, several days of the week... not learning.
“I was very angry. Why are we sending them to school if they’re just going to sit in the auditorium and socialize? They’re not getting an education,” said Stephenson.
Polk County has not escaped the teacher and substitute shortage facing districts across the state.
“I spent about 40 minutes on the phone with the principal and he basically told me there was nothing he could do about it. They don’t have teachers,” Stephenson said.
ABC Action News reached out to Polk County Public Schools to find out how often students are having to be placed in the auditorium. In a statement, the district said:
“Sometimes we do run into issues when a teacher is out and a substitute is not available to fill in. In those situations, we try to relocate students to other classrooms, but if that’s not possible, we sometimes relocate students to the auditorium, where they are supervised by staff.”
Several Bay Area school districts told ABC Action News when schools can’t find substitutes to cover teacher absences, the work often gets passed to other teachers in the school.
Currently, Hillsborough County has 688 instructional vacancies. In Polk County, there are 220 teacher vacancies and Hernando County has approximately 110 teacher openings.
“We’re even seeing teachers walk out mid-week, put their keys on the table and they’re out. They’re not even waiting until the end of the school year,” said Stephanie Yocum, President of Polk Education Association.
Yocum said an issue that is impacting the shortage is teachers retiring early or quitting because they don't feel supported by our legislature.
“We have an exodus in Florida of certified teachers and staff because they are seeing what’s happening to our profession,” Yocum said. “They're saying I can make more [money] in the private sector and not have to deal with the day-to-day ridiculousness that continues to come out of Tallahassee.”
As school districts struggle to find subs, there’s an effort by Kelly Education to expand their pool of applicants to counter the shortage.
“We’ve partnered with local colleges and universities to identify top talent in their education and STEM departments. We're involving retirees. We're engaging with them because who better talent than individuals who have retired from the district, that may want to do this part-time,” said Tina Mosley, recruiting director for Kelly Education.
Mosley said Kelly Education’s referral program allows current talent to refer candidates and receive cash each time a person is hired.
Stephenson hopes these measures will help but worries about the critical lessons her grandson is missing.
“Our children are being left by the wayside because no one is speaking up to make sure that they’re getting the education that we all as taxpayers pay for,” Stephenson said.
