CHARLOTTE — As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools nears the end of the school year’s first semester, the district continues to be plagued by seemingly never-ending teacher vacancies.
Educators still hanging tough say it’s a challenging reality.
“There are a number of things that would cause me or want me to leave but that doesn’t outweigh the impact that I know I’m making on my students” teacher Braxton Beacoats said.
CMS confirmed that as of this past Monday, there are 442 teacher vacancies and 72 guest teacher vacancies. Guest teachers are being paid for by Covid stimulus dollars, which expire at the end of the school year.
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“Teachers are covering, there are more students in the classroom; there are people who have specialized roles that more than like should not be covering but they’re being pulled to cover,” Beacoats said.
Beacoats teaches social studies at Harding High. He is also is the parliamentarian for the local teachers union. He says it is hard to deny the impact of vacancies on students getting individualized instruction.
“They’re learning the material but are they aren’t actually getting the instruction, do they have that teacher they can ask questions,” Beacoats said.
That very discussion came up at this week’s school board meeting. Board member Jennifer De La Jara wondered if the vacancies could actually be around 700.
“Because if all of those positions go away next year when the COVID money runs out then there are vacancies that are there.”
Nevertheless, Beacoats thinks there are ways to ease the impact on the classroom until the district can make a lasting dent in the vacancies.
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“I think that we have a lot of teacher assistants that are probably qualified to be teachers,” Beacoats said.
Beacoats said a major part of the equation will always include pay.
“Reinstate masters pay, I think that would help,” he said. “Unfortunately, in the state of north Carolina, educators don’t feel respected, they don’t feel valued and so it is very hard to attract educators.”
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