It is no secret that a significant teacher shortage has developed across the country within the last decade.
AHS has made staff hiring a top priority for the 2022-23 school year, and this parlayed with new FCPS policies has helped to minimize the impact that the staff shortages have had on AHS.
“We were able to be fully staffed at the very beginning of the year,” Principal Shawn DeRose said. “At times, it is challenging to find quality people but we’ve been fortunate at AHS that we have been able to find quality teachers and ensure that all of our classes are staffed.”
Throughout FCPS, an effort has been made to combat teacher shortages through the teacher apprentice pathway.
This pathway allows for schools to hire impressive individuals and instructors who are not currently licensed teachers, but are in the process of acquiring a teaching certificate while on the job.
Recently, FCPS also announced that they are exploring the possibility of a partnership with the Barbados Ministry of Education to bring in an effort to bring over teachers from Barbados to fill position needs.
Both of these programs are exploratory and will be essential in FCPS’s fight against staff shortages.
While AHS has been able to fill every classroom with a teacher, there have been various issues in attaining substitute teachers throughout the start of the year.
“It has definitely continued to be difficult to obtain substitute teachers this year,” Math teacher Shannon Gray said. “We’ve been advised to request a sub as soon as we know we need to be absent to have the best possible chance of having a sub pick up the job”.
AHS has several consistent substitute teachers who come in everyday and pick up classrooms while teachers are out.
“We’ve also hired people on an hourly basis to support situations in which we need class coverage, hallway coverage, or cafeteria coverage,” DeRose said.
One of the biggest contributors to AHS’s effort to combat sub shortages has been substitute coordinator Alejandra Navarette.
“She [Ms. Navarette] deals with subs every day, she does that puzzle every morning in making sure that every class is covered, and she is awesome at doing it,” DeRose said.
Navarette has been extremely helpful in keeping classrooms productive while teachers are absent, which has helped AHS avoid falling alongside the countrywide struggle to find sufficient teachers.
The biggest priority for AHS is simple; the learning environment. Above all else, AHS wants to ensure that they can establish a great learning environment for all of their students, despite potential staffing issues.
“I think at times there have been some questionable substitute teachers but most of them are great, they do their job and control the classroom, and I have great relationships with all of my teachers,” senior Andrew Nields said. “The younger teachers have done a great job of coming in and working hard, communicating with us [students], and allowing us to thrive in the classroom”.
Teaching is a challenging profession. For individuals seeking easy, short-term work, substitute teaching can especially be a challenge.
Teaching requires excellent communication and collaboration skills, as well as patience. Finding individuals who possess these traits is no easy task, but is one that AHS has identified as an important one in its quest for a successful 2022-23 school year and beyond.