Teacher shortage a ‘myth’? I see it every day | Opinion

A new substitute teacher in Broward County writes that the teacher shortage that teachers are warning of, one dismissed as a "myth" by the Florida Department of Education, is all too real.

The Florida Education Association estimates there are over 5,000 teacher vacancies in Florida public schools, which represents a critical shortage. Incredibly, officials at Florida’s Department of Education (FDOE) dispute the shortage as a “myth” created by the teacher’s union to create a fake problem. A recent column by the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s Mark Lane mocked the deniers by sarcastically quoting them as saying, “Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Pay no attention to that substitute teacher wandering the halls trying to find the right classroom.”

That made me laugh because I am that substitute teacher.

I began working as a substitute three months ago, and I often find myself rushing through a seemingly endless maze of long hallways, breathlessly trying to find the right classroom before the tardy bell rings.

It’s apparent the FDOE would prefer you not to know I exist, but I won’t give them that satisfaction. As that substitute teacher “wandering the halls,” I can tell you that, by denying the existence of a teacher shortage, it’s the FDOE that’s propagating a myth.

Here’s the truth: The teacher shortage is shockingly real and disastrously damaging.

I see it every day.

I see it every time I visit the website that lists the available subbing assignments in Broward County. There are hundreds of them, especially for special needs students, many of which go unfilled. That alone is clear evidence of a shortage.

But that’s only the beginning.

As a roving substitute, I often work at two or three different schools each week. I have walked into many front offices in the morning to find personnel scrambling to fill vacancies due to illness, family emergencies, meetings with teachers or parents and other reasons. It’s not unusual for me and other subs to sit in these offices waiting for up to an hour before finally being assigned as the staff hustle to identify where the deficiencies are and how best to fill them.

These offices are often beehives of activity with people running in and out from all directions. Staff members are usually on their phones, walkie-talkies or both simultaneously, giving and receiving updates and trading suggestions.

And the staffing challenges don’t end when the morning does.

One day, I had to leave school in the early afternoon, and there was no teacher to relieve me. Eventually, a security guard ended up taking my class to the cafeteria. I later found out there have been times when multiple classes were taken to the cafeteria, the library or the gym because there was no one to watch over them. As a result, the students lose valuable time in the classroom.

I had another assignment in which the regular teacher went on leave, and then, to further complicate matters, the replacement teacher had to leave unexpectedly. Soon after, parents began contacting the school complaining that there were no grades being posted online and the kids were complaining they weren’t learning anything.

And therein lies the most damaging effect of this shortage.

In the frantic rush to find anyone to occupy the classroom, what gets lost in the shuffle is the children’s education. That’s all. Schools are so absorbed in assigning placeholders for the day that the curriculum and the need for the children to be consistently taught and tested are compromised.

Yes, there is a teacher shortage, and the primary victims of it are the children.

Teacher pay is a critical factor in this. According to the National Education Association, out of the 50 states, Florida ranks an abysmal 48th in teacher pay. The Broward County Teachers Union is stalled in a months-long negotiation over teacher salaries with the Broward County School Board. The board is offering what the union describes as a “meager 1.7%” increase, while the union is asking for 7% to 9%.

At one recent school board meeting, dozens of teachers described how they struggle to make ends meet, even to the point of applying for food stamps. It’s no wonder they have fled in droves to pursue better opportunities in recent years.

We need to pay teachers enough to attract qualified and competent people into the teaching profession rather than inducing them to flee from it. I have always been an advocate of improving teacher pay, but now that I have experienced a fraction of the challenges they face, I can personally attest they deserve it.

If we don’t fix this, our children and our future will bear the damage. And that damage is being done as we speak.

I see it every day.

Arthur Harley is a Margate resident. Contact him at arthurharley@currently.com.