South Jersey schools looking to fill teaching vacancies in specialized areas ahead of academic year
Camden, N.J. (CBS) - With South Jersey schools less than two weeks away from opening, many districts are still looking to fill teacher vacancies in specialized areas.
Camden City School District Superintendent Katrina McCombs said they have about 50 open positions, which is a higher teacher vacancy rate than in past years.
"Our highest area of need is chemistry, chemistry teachers," Supt. McCombs said. "As well as higher level math teachers and also special education teachers."
In Cherry Hill, Superintendent Dr. Joseph Meloche said they've done well, but they're still having trouble filling some openings.
"We're still struggling in some of the specialty areas in world languages, in some of the content areas at the secondary schools, in math and science," Dr. Meloche said. "We're always desiring more candidates."
These vacancies come as a June survey by the American Federation of Teachers found a spike in the number of teachers not satisfied with their jobs.
Seventy percent of teachers surveyed described last school year as one of the worst in their careers, while 38% said they expect to leave the profession in the next one to two years.
Dr. Meloche said in the district's last contract negotiations, they increased teacher wages and the rate for daily substitute teachers.
Camden's supporting its paraeducators to become fully-fledged teachers, and it's working with Rowan University's Men of Color Hope Achievers (MOCHA) program to recruit men of color who are deciding to change careers or college majors and go into teaching.
"We're working to just build pipelines in many different ways to help ourselves to close that gap as best we can," Supt. McCombs said.
Cherry Hill students return to class on Sept. 6, and Camden students return to class on Sept. 8.