Teacher shortages are affecting classrooms nationwide. More than half of the country’s public schools are understaffed, according to newly released data from the National Center for Education Statics.
“I feel like they're taking away my right to an education," said KyleeAnn Fay Thomas. Thomas is a straight A student in 11th grade. She left her third period geometry class this morning to speak out about the staffing shortages affecting her education at West Scranton High School.
“So you actually signed your daughter out during her math class, and that is probably something you would never do," asked FOX56's Sarah Goolden.
"Absolutely not. This is period three right now. She just came out here to do this interview. Because why sit through another day, there's been five days since they assigned a teacher to her class, where they've gone over rules and expectations for the class. Why? Their 11th graders they've been in school for 12 years. I think there's a better use of time," said Thomas's father, Brent Ward.
West Scranton high school has been in session now for sixteen days.
“For the first about two weeks, I had no teacher, we had a sub, but basically we were told to just do any work we had from other classes or just put your head down, and like take a nap," said Thomas.
Thomas said although a teacher in the math department began filling in as a long-term substitute, she still has not been taught the coursework.
“Do you feel that you're getting the education that you need to prepare you for the exams at the end of the year." asked FOX56's Sarah Goolden.
"No, I don't. I simply think that because I don't have the resources that I should have and that they should have prepared before school even started, that I'm not getting any sort of education in math and it's something I struggle with, and I would like to learn," said Thomas.
Information released from a Right-to-Know request shows that six math classes at West Scranton High School are without a permanent teacher.
“The challenge that I had was that the school didn't tell me, my daughter had to come home and tell me that she wasn't being educated. I know there's parents that have no idea because we get automated calls almost daily from the either the district or the principal about bell schedules and dress codes and lockdown drills and everything you can possibly imagine, but not a mention of a teacher shortage, not a mention of anything like it," said Ward.
Concerned about his daughter’s education, Ward filed a curriculum deficiency report with the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, the agency replied that they will get back to him by Christmas.
“Teach my daughter, teach the other 120 kids that don't have teachers," pleaded Ward.
In a statement the Scranton School District Superintendent Missy McTiernan told us:
"This is a nationwide problem not just a SSD issue. One major problem in the hiring process is the lack of candidates available for each job. Our Human Resource director is working very hard with our building administrators to fill these positions as soon as possible. We are very satisfied with the newly appointed talented staff members that have chosen to join the SSD."
The staffing shortages are affecting classrooms across the state. According to the Acting Secretary of Education Eric Hagarty, last year only 6,000 new teachers entered the workforce, 10 years ago that number was 20,000.
In July the PA Department of Education released the PA Educator Workforce Educator Strategy aimed at combating teacher shortages over the next 3 years. One of the main components of the plan is modernizing the certification system which would take the processing time down from 10 weeks to 15 days.