Vicksburg Community Schools Superintendent Keevin O’Neil argues the numbers don’t tell the full story with what he sees as a state teacher shortage, a media site reports.
According to Michigan Capital Confidential, 1,177 applicants have applied for the district’s 15 open teacher positions this year, or an average of 33 applicants per opening. In 2018, the ratio of applicants was even greater, with an average of 45 applicants applying for the 160 full-time teacher openings.
Again, O’Neil the numbers alone don’t tell you everything you need to know.
“Most of the applicants already had a teaching job in another district or state,” he told Michigan Capital Confidential. “In addition, we had an abundance of applicants without proper certification.”
O’Neil said many of his beliefs on the situation stem from a recent Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators survey that found of the nearly 300 schools surveyed, 60 percent said they had at least one teaching vacancy.
At Vicksburg, both enrollment and student-to-teacher ratios have held firm for 11 years, with the district having 159.95 full-time teaching positions and 2,660 students over the last year, Michigan Capital Confidential reports. In 2018, Vicksburg attracted 101 applicants for both a first-grade teaching position and several third-grade ones. By comparison, only four people tendered applications for a middle school special education teaching position posted this year, ranking as the lowest number of applicants for any other opening.
Alerts Sign-up