Philadelphia schools still have more than 200 teacher vacancies heading into the 2022-23 school year

With less than two weeks until the start of the 2022-23 academic year and amid a nationwide teacher shortage, the Philadelphia School District expects to have more than 200 teacher vacancies on the first day of class Aug. 29, officials told the school board Thursday night.

Across the district, that includes teachers who are on temporary leave but expected to return, as well as around 230 positions the district is still looking to fill — chief talent officer Larisa Shambaugh explained to the school board.

Not all of those teaching positions are tied to leading a classroom, and thus won’t require principals to develop an immediate coverage plan for the first day of school, Shambaugh told the board.

The Philadelphia district, a system of about 114,000 students, has continued to bolster its classroom staffing throughout the summer, welcoming more than 700 new hires at the beginning of this month, Shambaugh said.

Last month, officials reported 96.5% of teaching jobs and 97.7% of principal jobs were staffed. On Thursday, those numbers reached 97.4% for teaching jobs and 99% for principal jobs — with the lone vacancy staffed by a retired principal, Shambaugh said. She said the district is actively continuing to hire, and has made more than 30 offers to teachers in the last five days.

In early August, the district saw 25 new hires change their minds and rescind acceptance, Shambaugh said, a “particular pain point” making the positions much harder to fill.

Many teachers leave the profession in their first five years, and the pandemic has further strained educators in Philadelphia and around the country.

In Philadelphia, as negotiated by the teachers’ union, educators will receive a 3.25% raise at the beginning of September, and a $1,000 retention and re-engagement bonus by the end of the month, Shambaugh said.

In other areas, the district’s staffing picture has been less rosy. Going into the school year, bus driver staffing is around 70.9%, Shambaugh reported. The majority of the school bus routes are run by outside organizations, Shambaugh told the board, and the district’s office of transportation has a “plan in place” to ensure students get to school Aug. 29.

With 250 more Philadelphia students newly requiring special-education assistance as of last year, the district has needed to recruit more paraprofessionals, Shambaugh said — with 76.8% of positions filled heading into the school year. While those roles won’t be completely staffed by September, the district will attempt to hire paraprofessionals throughout the year, Shambaugh said.

Around 19 Philadelphia schools don’t have nurses, Shambaugh said, vacancies the district is still working with a staffing agency to fill.

The district is prepared for a fall COVID-19 surge, district officials told the board, and has beefed up staffing in its COVID response team and data system in hopes of more quickly detecting and addressing outbreaks. The district announced last week it will require masks during its first 10 days of school, with optional masking afterward — a policy that many contested during public comment.

Addressing concerns around gun violence, the district is also working to increase its “Safe Corridors” — a type of volunteer neighborhood watch at the beginning and end of the school days — in areas that have seen an increase in shootings, said chief safety officer Kevin Bethel.