LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Schools nationwide are faced with staffing shortages, and our area is not immune. Meteorologist Nathan Kitchens checks in with Lima City Schools to see what that situation looks like.
Schools all across the country are faced with staffing shortages right now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are over 500,000 fewer educators in public schools than there were before the pandemic. Burnout continues to be a driving force as more than half of educators say they are ready to leave their profession sooner than planned. We checked in with Lima City Schools to see what the staffing situation looks like for educators. Superintendent Jill Ackerman says they've been fortunate to have many long-term staff members who stayed put through the pandemic but are now seeing increased staffing needs.
"Now that we're kind of coming out of the pandemic we're back to where we were before the pandemic and we're seeing turnover. We're seeing people return to home districts because of the drive, the price of gasoline, being able to be in a school with their own children, those are the kinds of things that we're seeing here," said Superintendent Jill Ackerman, Lima City Schools.
Lima City Schools says they are up to par with their teaching staff, but they are lacking in a couple of different areas.
"Our shortage right now is in the area of special education. Intervention specialists are in high demand, and we currently have openings in that area. We're trying to figure out creatively how to fill them. The other area we're really lacking in is high school Spanish. So we're in dire need of a high school Spanish teacher and we're looking at some alternative ways to get the Spanish curriculum to our kids at the high school," explained Ackerman.
The other area schools are battling to fill are bus drivers. Some districts in the country have been forced to make drastic changes to routes. Although Ackerman says they could use a couple more bus drivers, they are doing quite well as they have developed a plan that attracts bus drivers to work there.
"A lot of our bus driving positions are full-time positions, so people seek benefits, they need benefits. We've created what we call "Bus Plus Positions" which are full-time all day with benefits. That's been really helpful for people as well," added Ackerman.
There's also a great lack of substitute teachers. If you love working with kids, all you need is a high school diploma to apply for a substitute teaching license and pass a background check. Last year, they even used recent graduates of Lima Senior to come and fill those substitute positions.
