Education

A week before the first day back, Boston Public Schools still has over 200 open teaching positions

"There will be some hiccups, but we are ready to meet the moment and are quite confident that it will be a strong start to the year for our 49,000 students.”

A Boston Latin Academy student waits on her school bus after attending her school day.
A Boston Latin Academy student waits on her school bus after attending her school day. (Jonathan Wiggs /Globe Staff)

By Christopher Gavin

1 minute to read
BPS:

About a week before nearly 50,000 students return to classrooms across Boston Public Schools, district officials are still searching for teachers to fill over 200 open positions.

The district, as of Thursday, was feeling its own piece of the national teacher shortage, with 217 openings for educators and 783 for substitutes prior to the start of the school year on Sept. 8, according to the Boston Herald.

Senior Deputy Superintendent of Academics Linda Chen said the situation is “just kind of a perfect storm,” citing the impacts of COVID and the ongoing Orange Line shutdown.

“We have been reaching out to retired people,” Chen said, adding officials have also contacted BPS alums who have graduated from local colleges and universities.

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BPS administrators have also worked with City Hall to host job fairs, and have worked with faith communities, which have partnered with over 50 institutions to hand out job postings and recruiting materials, the Herald reports.

“There will be some hiccups, but we are ready to meet the moment and are quite confident that it will be a strong start to the year for our 49,000 students,” acting Superintendent Drew Echelson told the School Committee on Wednesday night.

According to Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union, there are several factors feeding the local teacher shortage, including that the district had to create more positions because it lost teachers over the course of the pandemic.

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Positions for teachers who left have been particuarly challenging to fill because many of them are for subjects that require additional certification, such as chemistry, physics, and vocational education, Tang told the Herald.

The average starting salary for BPS teachers is $58,680, according to Tang. The 217 vacancies breaks down, on average, to about one or two teachers per school.

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