A massive teacher exodus that plagued the Lee County public school system for years may have been blunted.
COVID, a catastrophic hurricane, a shortage of affordable housing and overall burnout because of a critical teacher shortage kept the district woefully understaffed for years.
And now, for the first time in a long time, the school district will begin the school year with enough certified school teachers for every classroom when school starts resumes after summer break ends on Aug. 11.
As of July 31, there were 65 vacant teaching positions. A staffing agency will be used to place retired and other certified teachers in those classrooms until the jobs can be permanently filled, said district spokesman Rob Spicker.
The 65 vacancies is a whopping 72 % decrease from the 235 vacancies at this time last year, Spicker said.
Spicker said the district’s human resources department this year got a jump start on recruiting even before the last school year ended. In the past he said recruiting didn’t usually happen until a month or so from the start of the next school year.
Called “Project Believe,” Spicker said the district also encouraged buy-in from principals, assistant principals and teachers to market the job openings.
“It was a whole shift in mindset, from there's a teacher shortage, we can't fill these jobs to we're going to fill these jobs,” he said.
Money also played a part. This year, the school district offered up to $9,000 to retain teachers in particular jobs at particular schools.
Spicker said in years past, the lack of adequate staffing only added to the burn-out and increased the exodus of teachers from the district.
“When you're not fully staffed, you're putting more pressure, more asks on the teacher,” he said. “(They) Already got a stressful job, and so that did lead to some burnout, and some people who decided to change professions, but being fully staffed, they only have to focus on their kids.”
Lee County isn’t the only school district celebrating its gains over last year, the state on average experienced a nearly 18 % decrease in vacancies.
Florida’s public school system is the fourth largest in the country with nearly 3 million students enrolled in over 4,200 public schools throughout the state.
Though down significantly, there are still 4,300 vacant teaching positions across the state.
The shortages remain especially acute in the following subject areas:
*English/language arts
*Exceptional Student Education (ESE)
*General and physical science
*Reading
*English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
*Mathematics
To see what Lee County positions still need filled go to www.leeschools.net/careers
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