Connecticut schools face teacher shortages as new year begins

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — As students head back to school this week, Connecticut districts face a recurring challenge: a teacher shortage.

However, some districts are getting creative in recruiting and retaining educators.

Kate Dias, the president of the Connecticut Education Association (CEA), the state’s largest teacher’s union, said the current teacher shortage is no worse than last year.

“I think we are in kind of a status quo, which is unfortunate,” Dias said. “We’ve been talking about the challenges and the crisis, and we haven’t really moved the needle. So, we’re not seeing an uptick in educators, and we’re really projecting an increase of people leaving.”

At last check, here’s a look at the number of teacher openings.

• New Haven – 77
• Waterbury – 63
• Hartford – 58
• Bridgeport – 41
• New Britain – 35
• Enfield – 9 openings being filled by subs
• Bristol – 8
• West Hartford -5
• Milford – 5

According to the state Department of Education, the shortages are most substantial in special education, math and science.

Districts are devising creative solutions to the problem. Dr. Darren Schwartz, the interim superintendent of Waterbury Public Schools, said that two years ago, at the start of the academic year, they were short 176 teachers, making it difficult to open the district.

“We had to think differently, and I think it forced us to do things that we hadn’t done before,” said Juan Mendoza, the assistant superintendent of human capital at Waterbury Public Schools.

The first step was increasing teachers’ starting salaries while offering salary incentives to long-time Waterbury educators loyal to the district.

They also launched an aggressive teacher recruitment campaign with virtual fairs, partnerships with area universities, and strategic ads in malls and billboards on the highway.

“I think you definitely have to think differently. In the past, it was by word of mouth or the newspaper,” Mendoza said. “You think they’d come to you, but now you have to go to them.”

Those efforts paid off. In two years, they have reduced their teacher vacancies by more than half to 63.

“We’re going to continue pushing for teachers across the state and really in New England to come here and come to Waterbury, Connecticut,” Schwartz said.

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