By: Mars Johnson, Reporter
OMAHA, Neb.- Staff shortages are present in the workforce as a whole, but public education is taking a hit that is especially severe.
The Omaha Public Schools Board of Education has qualified TAC building staff helping teach, sub, supervise lunch rooms and dismiss schools in the OPS district a few hours each week.
Student teachers as well as teachers who supervise them receive stipends. Paid student interns will be a part of summer programs with help from certified teachers. Five non-student contact days have been added to the OPS calendar. The Omaha Public Schools Board of Education holds meetings at the TAC building every other Monday evening.
A look inside Burke High School shows how students and staff have been adapting to a decrease in staffing as part of the Omaha Public School district, and a parent of a child in another Omaha public school shows concern for her son’s safety and learning objectives.
Assistant principal and athletic director at Burke High School, Jason Williams, said the pandemic is the key factor to the shortage. Williams has been in education for over 20 years and comes from a family of educators.
Diverse recruitment that “mirrors” what the “student body looks like” is important to Williams. Williams often speaks to those educators in his family about teacher recruitment and retention.
“It can get frustrating, but at the same time, I think at the end of the day, the conversation always circles back around to why we do what we do: being able to work with kids, being able to make a difference, just being supportive of the community as a whole,” said Williams.
Williams acknowledges it is overwhelming to work seven and half hours a day with only 30 minutes for lunch and less time for planning, but stays hopeful and said, “The district has done a fantastic job of recognizing our staff and doing the very best they can to take care of our staff.”
Williams finds it unfortunate that students have missed out on in-person interactions and some fell behind when there was only remote learning in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he felt it was a necessary action to take. Providing extra time for learning such as summer school and tutoring is meant to help keep students on track, said Williams.
“I think the wake-up call for me or the reality check for me was that we were completely remote and students struggled. … Even kids that are absolutely intrinsically motivated struggled,” said Williams.
Getting people into teaching that can’t afford to go to college by providing them with resources to do so is something Williams proposes would help with teacher shortages.
“I think if we’re able to incentivize and get creative with getting people into the profession that would normally not go into the profession I think we would be in much better shape,” said Williams.
Compared to Williams’ childhood, he’s seen a decline in the current generation when it comes to the drive to be a teacher.
“My hope is that this generation sees the value in education. Being educators I should say–that they see the value in being an educator,” said Williams.
Erica Johnson comes from a family of educators as well. Johnson understands the hardships that come with being a public school teacher, but sees her child’s public school experience has changed dramatically. There has been no homework all year and English classes have not been happening for about a month.
“I don’t know what concepts are being taught or anything,” said Johnson.
Johnson has contacted the assistant principal with no response, but still doesn’t want to add more to teachers’ plates by emailing her concerns because she feels it is insensitive to what teachers are going through. She does believe that her child’s teachers care about students.
“I really do hope and pray that even though my hopes are not high, I really do hope that the leaders of the district realize how many things depend on schools being appropriately staffed, and that they realize this before the district implodes,” said Johnson.
Johnson supports all of the teachers’ decisions regardless of if they are staying or leaving and said everyone in the school system needs to be paid more.
“I think it’s unfair to put them in a position like this where [OPS is] literally making them decide between helping the kids or saving themselves,” said Johnson.
Johnson said her son has been resilient through the pandemic and teacher shortages, but this year his love for school has “kind of died.” He shows less enthusiasm for going to school. A program her son was looking forward to came to a halt. He told her that he’s stressed.
“I remember one day he was just like ‘Yeah mom, I don’t think this is gonna happen,’ and I was like ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’” said Johnson.
Johnson said he shrugged it off, but it had a bigger impact on him than he realized. Recently, he told her he didn’t feel like he was learning anything. He’s excited to leave his current school to the point of wanting to change schools as soon as possible, but Johnson is waiting for him to complete state testing first.
Johnson will be moving her child to a different school district in hopes of seeing the spark that was there in her child before. Looking forward to two new OPS high schools opening in the fall of 2022, Buena Vista and Westview, Jason Williams hopes to see an improvement in teacher to student ratios.
