Sunday, April 28, 2024
A nationwide teacher shortage that has affected the Granbury Independent School District left administrators sweating as the 2022-2023 school year has drawn closer.
However, Superintendent Jeremy Glenn said late last week that the open positions have been filled.
On the day that Glenn made that statement — Friday, July 22 — the GISD’s website listed 30 openings for teachers, but the superintendent said the openings would be removed from the jobs list after paperwork for the new hires had been processed.
“We’ve seen a lot of movement out of the profession through burnout and because of COVID and just the general temperament with public schools in Texas over the last 24 months,” Glenn said.
He said that Gov. Greg Abbott has tasked the Texas Education Agency with forming a “teacher retention task force” to find ways to address the problem.
“As far as Granbury ISD, we’re used to posting an elementary job and receiving anywhere between 60 and 80 applicants. And so, when you’re down to seeing 10 to 15 applicants, it’s kind of a surprise,” Glenn said.
The superintendent said that the GISD’s turnover is in the 8-10% range, but he noted that the Austin’s school district has a much higher turnover rate: between 30%-40%.
The Granbury ISD employs about 1,100 people total, Glenn said, including bus drivers, cafeteria workers and others involved in school operations.
Job postings will soon include custodian positions. The School Board agreed at its regular meeting on July 18 to no longer contract for custodial services but to handle those needs in-house.
At that meeting, Assistant Superintendent Jimmy Dawson spoke about the teacher shortage.
“I think we have to hone in on teacher retention,” he stated. “We have to look at that because this is the first time in my 19 years in this district as an administrator that we actually have teacher job openings that we have zero applicants for.”
The shortage poses a challenge for principals, Dawson added.
Glenn stated, “It’s dire in the fact that most of those jobs that the principals are scrambling to fill, they would have had those done probably by the first of July before they went on vacation. When you’re used to having everybody (hired) in June and here we are approaching August, that’s an issue.”
Glenn said that the GISD is considered a “district of Innovation” by the state, which allows “some flexibility in hiring teachers in those critical areas like Spanish that don’t necessarily have a certification. We can work on their certification over a two-year window while they’re employed with us.”
That flexibility also extends to Career & Technical Education classrooms, he indicated.
Glenn said that the district’s pay for teachers is competitive.
Starting pay for teachers is $52,000 and tops out at about $74,000 for those with “30-40 years’ experience,” he said.
