By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
More than 1,300 teaching positions are still unfilled four weeks into the school year according to a new report.
The survey released Tuesday by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association of 135 school districts and charter schools found that they began the year with more than 7,000 vacancies. What that means is they could not find qualified applicants for close to one position out of every five.
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Potentially more significant, Justin Wing, the association’s past president who conducted the study, said he found that out more than 500 teachers have resigned so far this year, some simply by abandoning their positions and walking away.
Wing said most of the vacancies are being handled by long-term substitutes. But he said some of the gap was being made up by people teaching extra classes, with other schools either combining classes to the point where it exceeds the school’s class size limits or even where districts had to create multi-grade classrooms.
