Overcrowding and budget cuts are two issues Tulsa Public schools have dealt with. We found out today, there is another one--a shortage of teachers. Channel 8's Kim Jackson explains the issue. And the solution.
At school headquarters, administrator are looking for teachers. They can afford them. They just need to hire them.
Mclain opened it's doors to 180-more students than expected. Classes were overcrowded until the district added more teachers.
"I think community leaders are feeling more involved in their school, and I think they feel they have an investment in it and that is why numbers are going up," said McLain principal, Darius Kirk.
But if the numbers keep going up, teachers may be hard to find. Administrators expected some teachers to retire.
"But then all of a sudden in June, we had a huge influx of teachers a huge increase of teachers who said I'm not going to come back. We actually did not hire enough teachers to be ready for the start of school. We are out there looking right now to fill some vacancies," said Superintendent Dr. Keith Ballard.
Right now, they have 44-jobs to fill. And schools like Mclain could receive more teachers.
"We will take a look at the numbers at McLain we will look at reports. And we will see if we need to increase administrative help. I don't know if we do or not," said Ballard.
At Mclain, there is a goal.
"Our whole focus is to make sure our students are adequately prepared to be successful in college. So we have nowhere to go but up," said Kirk.
There is money to hire the teachers, but right now finding them may be the issue.
The allocations committee is still configuring which schools need teachers and which one ones have too many.
