CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Schools across the country are facing a teacher shortage as many schools return to in-person after a year of virtual learning.
Despite having open vacancies, the school district and its teachers are taking all the steps they can for their students.
“I’ve seen the teachers on our campus really, in this week we’ve been back without kids, just work together and work hard at filling any role that needs to be filled,” says Luisa White, an instructional teacher advisor for Miller High School.
CCISD says they saw an increase in teachers retiring and stepping away from schools during the pandemic. The school district has around 900 substitute teachers fill in for absences and vacancies. The schools still actively work to fill spots left open from the pandemic.
“There were concerns from employees who either had a serious health condition or possibly caring for a family member that had a serious health concern at that time,” says Debbie Nunez, CCISD executive director of human resources.
CCISD currently has about 50 teacher vacancies, but they hired around 200 teachers for the upcoming school year.
To fill those spots that retired teachers left, they actively recruit at the Kingsville and Corpus Christi campuses of Texas A&M University, as well as schools in the valley and up north.
“The teachers we have coming in and filling those spots and graduating and ready to hit the ground running in these classrooms are awesome and they’re all doing some really incredible things,” says White.
