The Teacher Exodus
Screenshot - Fox 25 News Story
This year Exodus is more than just a book in the Bible. Fox 25 Television reporter, Wendy Suarez, has a report today about the difficulties Oklahoma public schools are having in attracting and retaining teachers. The problem has been growing for several years. This year is by far the worst it has ever been. Just last night I watched as the Board for the Mid-Del Public Schools agonized over this issue. There are currently 39 open teaching spots in Mid-Del. That's 39 - AFTER reworking schedules to consolidate classrooms (read: larger class sizes).
School starts tomorrow… Yikes!
So what’s the be done? After all, we already have more people requesting emergency and alternative certifications than we’ve ever had. Those folks? Well… I’m glad they at least have a college degree. (Bonus points if that degree is actually in a subject they are going to teach - but that’s not actually required.)
But let’s be clear. They are NOT certified. They’ve merely received approval from the State Board of Education to learn to teach and to work on their certification — while they assume responsibility for our kids.
And yet… even with historic levels of approvals from the SBE, we still can’t find enough “teachers” to replace the ones who’ve left to work elsewhere. They’ve changed careers. Many have left to work at Hobby Lobby, Target, etc. One teacher I know left the classroom to train to be a flight attendant. They grew tired of the continued attacks — and they left.
So now what???
Well Oklahoma law allows districts to hire “Adjunct Faculty.” You may be saying to yourself, "This must be okay. After all, we have adjunct in college. Why not in K-12?”
Here’s why not.
Oklahoma law, Title 70, Section 6-122.3, defines adjunct as:
"...persons with distinguished qualifications in their field."
So, who — or what — is that? What makes someone “distinguished?” That’s not defined.
Here’s what the State Board of Education rules DO say:
(1) The local school district shall determine the specific qualifications, duties, and responsibilities of adjunct teachers.
(2) The employment of persons to serve as adjunct teachers shall be approved by the local board of education.
(3) The local district shall request a felony record search of any person approved for adjunct employment.
Literally, everything is left up to the local school board - except the law says they must check their criminal record for felony convictions. Adjunct teachers don't have to be certified. They aren’t even required to have a degree of any kind. They aren’t required to have a single day of college. The requirements merely say adjuncts must be approved by the local school board. That’s it.
Before this year, there was a cap on the total number of classroom hours adjunct faculty could teach. That limit was 270 classroom hours, or a total of 36 days at 7.5 hours per school day. This year the limit is gone. Adjunct faculty can work all day, every single day of the school year. That’s because Governor Stitt signed SB1119 to remove the cap. Now they can spend all day, every school day, teaching kids.
Continued attacks on teachers have caused this mass exodus of experienced teachers.
Before you #RememberInNovember, #FixThisInAugust. You can do that by voting for people who support and encourage teachers. Vote against those who continue to attack teachers and our public schools.
