HISD to plug staff in teacher vacancies

For the second year in a row, Houston ISD plans to use administrative employees who hold teaching certifications to help fill any vacancies that remain when classes resume in less than two weeks, district officials said Wednesday.

HISD Chief Talent Officer Jeremy Grant-Skinner said principals are expected to send certified staff — typically performing other duties — to classrooms with teacher vacancies. The district expects to start the school year with at least 95 percent of the roles filled, he said.

The district, which raised teacher salaries to be among the highest in the region, also will use long-term substitute teachers who hold certification to work as dedicated fill-ins at the beginning of the year.

HISD, with its first day of school scheduled for Aug. 22, had 779 openings for certified teachers listed on its career portal Wednesday afternoon.

Unlike last year, central administration staffers will not be deployed to fill the gaps, although Superintendent Millard House II said the district will take volunteers from central administration.

“After all of these things, in any year, in any district, schools open with some number of teacher vacancies and we know on the 22nd that we’ll have some vacancies,” Grant-Skinner said. “Meanwhile, we’ll continue hiring. We’re taking a long-term approach to staffing our classes with excellent teachers and our efforts will not stop when school begins.”

Additionally, the district is offering $2,000 signing incentives through August, hosting job fairs and paying stipends to teachers filling critical roles in high-need areas, such as math, science, special education, bilingual education, as well as counselors, nurses and transportation staff. Grant-Skinner said the district also will welcome nearly 100 international candidates who hold certifications in their home countries to teach some of those high-need subjects.

The district also will offer alternative certification program for teachers for free.

“Everyone wants a certified teacher in front of their child or in front of a classroom on the first day of school,” House said. “We’ll continue to work. The data is changing every day as we continue to process hiring individuals.”

The 779 openings represent roughly 7 percent of the 11,000 teaching positions budgeted for the year.

Other districts are struggling as well. Across the region, schools needed to fill more than 3,400 teaching roles as of last week. Area schools began reopening this week.

It was not clear whether the Texas Education Agency had offered districts any guidance. Spokespersons for the agency did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

TEA officials last week said factors contributing to the statewide educator shortage appeared to be difficulty retaining teachers, as the state is producing an increasing number of teachers but not enough to keep up with those leaving the profession or districts adding positions to be filled.

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, the state’s third-largest school district, had 482 vacancies out of 7,670 teaching positions, a spokesperson said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Pearland ISD had 29 teaching vacancies.

Both districts said they would rely on substitute teachers until enough certified educators are hired.

“Most of our ability to address shortages is with longterm substitutes who are seeking teacher certifications,” Pearland ISD Director of Communications Cissa Madero said. “At this time, we have not combined classes, raised ratios or placed other personnel into classrooms for coverage.”

Pearland opens its doors next Wednesday.

Cy-Fair ISD spokeswoman Leslie Francis said that district, which begins classes Aug. 22, has more than 1,350 substitute teachers who have committed to filling vacancies this fall. “CFISD will continue to actively recruit teachers through job fairs, partnerships with universities, and a variety of advertising,” she said.

Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, HISD’s largest teachers’ union, said the staffing situation is concerning.

“I know that HISD has done a lot to increase teacher pay. However, it’s like how we have always said — it is not just about pay,” Anderson said. “We have got to figure out a way to make teaching the way it was used to be, where there was joy. We have to find a way to improve the culture, support teachers.”

A Texas State Teachers Association survey released earlier this week found 70 percent of teachers in the state seriously were considering quitting this year, the highest number in four decades.

Teachers attributed those feelings to pandemic-related stress, political pressure from state lawmakers, less support from parents and stretched finances.