-Oh Where, Oh Where Have All The Teachers Gone: A Teacher Shortage at Kean

Oh Where, Oh Where Have All The Teachers Gone?: A Teacher Shortage at Kean

By: Ayanna Miller

It’s another school year here at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, and things seem like they are running just as smoothly as before. Well... at least they seem that way. This academic school year, Kean has been faced with serious adversity-- a shortage of teachers.

Why the teacher shortage, you may ask? Cuts to the 2011-2012 budget of the Department of Education have resulted in teacher layoffs, resignations or retirements. Last school year alone, Kean High lost 20 teachers, administrators, and staff members.

According to Principal Sharon Ann McCollum, this year Kean High has 16 vacant faculty and staff positions.

As a result of the teacher shortage, many of the electives that were once offered have now been cut. These electives include classes like Small Engines Repair, Photography, and Intermediate Steelpan. There has also been a narrowing down of business classes offered here at Kean. Because of this, many schedules were affected-- especially the schedules of the graduating seniors.

Seniors were some of the last students to receive schedule changes. In the past, seniors were allowed to have one free period each semester. However, this year, the seniors were not allowed a free period in their first semester because of the disruption the students caused on campus. This resulted in them being placed in elective classes and further adding more stress on counselors because there was a limited number of electives.

“[It was] like pulling teeth coming up with classes for seniors this year because of the shortage of electives,” said 12th grade counselor, Ms. Annette Bertrand.

When asked what she felt about the government laying off teachers Ms. Bertrand said, “I felt like they were doing the community a disservice, putting our children at a disadvantage."

The teacher cutbacks also caused a shortage of teachers in some required classes. Some speech students, for example, had no teacher for the initial part of the school year. Thankfully, the class now has Ms. Heather Johnson as a teacher. Some 9th gradeEnglish classes also had no teacher or substitutes until Ms. Robles took the role right before Christmas break.

Some students also had strong opinions about the teacher shortage. A fellow senior, Ingrid Berry, commented, “I feel it [the teacher shortage] is ridiculous because without teachers, there is no school.” Berry also said, “Without teachers, I won’t be able to take the necessary classes needed for college."

This unfortunate scarcity of teachers has caused some confusion here at Kean, and Principal Dr. Sharon-Ann McCollum is hopeful that we will get teachers, but is not expecting any at this moment. Dr. McCollum stated that this is because of “qualifications of applicants” and “availability of funds.” She said, “Of course I am hopeful we will get teachers, but I don’t think things are going to change right away.”