The number of unfilled jobs remains steady in Manatee’s schools. Here’s why

Vacancies have shown no sign of wavering in the School District of Manatee County.

Despite the roll-out of competitive salaries, a result of the voter-approved increase on property taxes, the district’s various openings actually crept upward since last month.

Vacancies for teachers and other positions went down from 219 in August to 143 in September, then back up to 190 at the start of October. Sarah Brown, chief of human resources, updated the Citizens’ Financial Advisory Committee on Tuesday.

“We have a teacher vacancy problem in this district,” said Garin Hoover, a member of the committee.

“We do across the state,” Brown responded.

Schools across the country are affected by a shortage of teachers and other employees, but the effects vary by district.

Sarasota County Schools, a slightly smaller district, had a total of 40 vacancies on Friday, according to an email from spokeswoman Kelsey Whealey.

Manatee had nearly five times more vacancies as of Oct. 1. Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Brown cited regular turnover as one reason for the increase.

“Not everybody is cut out to be a teacher or to work as a custodian or to be a food service worker, or whatever it is,” she said.

October’s vacancies are broken down by category:

• American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) — 14
• Teachers — 61
• Paraprofessionals — 54
• Instructional, other (psychologists, social workers, nurses, etc.) — Seven
• Hourly non-bargaining (bookkeepers, registrars, secretaries, etc.) — 30
• Supervisory, administrative, managerial and professional (SAMP) at school level — Three
• SAMP at the district level — 20
• School administrators — One

Brown also cited a 10-day enrollment count that takes place at the start of each school year. The district counts its students and highlights areas of need, which inevitably leads to some teachers being transferred to a new position.

The update broke down instructional vacancies by school. As of Oct. 1, more than half of the 49 listed schools were missing at least one teacher or paraprofessional.

Brown pointed to Blanche H. Daughtrey Elementary School, which had five teacher vacancies and two paraprofessional openings at the start of this month.

“It’s a challenging school . . . Not everybody is cut out to be in some of those,” she said.

And while vacancies remained steady, the number of out-of-field teachers spiked sharply compared to past years. The term refers to instructors who teach at least one class outside of their certification area.

“I might be a reading teacher and I’m teaching social studies,” Brown said. “I may also be teaching a class of reading, but I’m also teaching two classes of social studies.”

There was little change in out-of-field teachers between 2015-2016 (38) and 2016-2017 (37). The number rose slightly to 48 last year, and it jumped to 120 — more than doubling — by October of this year.

State law requires the teachers to earn six credit hours toward the proper certification each year, meaning a teacher could be out-of-field for several years.

Instructors in reading, writing or language arts are often considered out-of-field if they teach English-language learners, and those teachers are counted as a separate group.

Though the teachers are certified in their subject areas, they need a certification in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL).

At 434 out-of-field ESOL teachers, the district is on track to surpass last year’s total of 644.

Brown’s presentation emphasized turnover, transfers and nationwide shortages. But it’s possible that early missteps caused some of the district’s hiring headaches, according to a Sept. 6 report from internal auditors.

“Recently, we were made aware that Human Resources delayed posting of new instructional positions prior to the start of the school year,” the report said. “This was corrected by swift action by the Superintendent directing the immediate posting of the new positions. However, this again continues to show a systemic issue which is continuing to directly impact the district and its services.”

Brown also revealed a silver lining in Tuesday’s presentation. Though it struggled to hire new employees, the district seemed to retain more existing staff each year.

The district retained 52 percent of its newly hired teachers in 2015-2016. It retained 59 percent of new teachers the next year, and 73 percent last year.

This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 2:04 PM.