'Cast the net wide:' Facing teacher shortage, MSCS on a hiring blitz before school year start

Recently, Memphis-Shelby County Schools has held hiring blitzes.

It has held in-person ones at the MSCS Teaching and Learning Academy and offered virtual ones for national job candidates. It has hosted out-of-state ones in Birmingham, Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi. On July 25, it’s set to hold one for open jobs in its SUPE schools ― schools that received a “D” or “F” from the state ― and on July 26, it’s set to host one called “Troops to teachers,” which is focused on recruiting military veterans and their spouses to be teachers.

The blitzes are part of the district’s effort to fill several hundred teacher vacancies, with the 2024-25 academic year swiftly approaching. The first day of the school year is Aug. 5.

“Let’s cast the net wide, and catch as many as we can,” said Superintendent Marie Feagins during a check-in with the media on July 16. “Because the need is so deep.”

The status of the vacancies

The hiring blitzes have lowered the number of vacancies in schools. On June 10 , Feagins sent out an email outlining a proposal to slash about 1,100 jobs ― nearly half of which were vacant ― with the hope of redirecting more resources and personnel from the central office to classrooms.

At the time, there were 552 teacher vacancies. By June 25 , the day the board approved Feagins’ job cuts, that number had been whittled down to 463. At a public meeting Tuesday, Feagins said that number was 185.

“I think that what we're doing is working,” Feagins said. “We just have so many vacancies that we're unable to see it [progress] to the degree that is necessary. … What we have seen is a lot of interest in the district.”

Feagins has also been reaching out to retired teachers and asking them to return for “at least a year, while we get our feet beneath us.” The eventual goal, she explained, is to have teacher recruitment happen year-round.

“For me, recruitment is yearlong,” she said. “It doesn’t just start and happen in a season.”

A nationwide issue

A robust, year-round recruitment process could be necessary for MSCS and districts around the country to keep positions filled, as many teachers are nearing retirement age at a time when there is already a shortage of educators. A 2022 study from the nonprofit research organization NORC at the University of Chicago showed that just 18% of Americans would encourage a young person to become a K-12 teacher. And an analysis from the ADP Research Institute, a labor market think tank, showed that teachers are in high demand and short supply .

There is a pipeline of future teachers, Feagins explained, that currently “doesn’t exist.”

“We have several universities just in neighboring states that had zero candidates to exit out of the College of Education. That's pretty poor for us, as we think about what we need,” she said. “There are several hundred teachers who could retire today, and we would not have a backfill for them. That's the story that we're continuing to underscore, and that is the meaning of and the focus for these hiring blitzes, and the emphasis that we're trying to place on the field of education.”

John Klyce covers education and children's issues for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at John.klyce@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: 'Cast the net wide:' Facing teacher shortage, MSCS on a hiring blitz before school year start