The Juneau School District is slated to start the school year in 2 weeks with 10 open elementary teacher positions. Nine positions are full time and one position is part time. School officials say this number represents a spike in teaching vacancies compared to previous years.
The district’s largest elementary school, Auke Bay Elementary, might start the year down four teachers, or a sixth of its teaching staff.
Sybil Van Derhoff is the district’s HR director. She said the district is concerned about the number of vacant positions, which impact everyone in a school.
“Generally, it means that we are stretching out the educators that are in that building to cover duties, to cover different responsibilities that that person would have covered,” she said.
She said this could accelerate teacher burnout. As a last resort, she said the district might reassign teachers from a districtwide position to a specific school. But in the meantime, they’re looking for other ways to fill the empty spots, like hiring retired teachers through a state law passed in 2018.
“That was a provision that gave school districts the right to reemploy retired teachers so that they could continue pulling on their retirement while also being employed by a school district,” Van Derhoff said.
She said the school board approved this pathway in 2023, but the district launched the program after getting support from unions and stakeholders earlier this week.
Long term pathways to teacher recruitment
The district has also been pursuing longer term pathways to fill teaching positions. One is hiring special education teachers from the Philippines, which has become a growing trend in the state. Van Derhoff said three teachers are expected to arrive in Juneau in the next couple weeks.
The district is also in its second year of training teacher apprentices. That allows prospective teachers to work in a classroom while supervised as they get their certification.
Van Derhoff said the district recently got approved for a program specifically for military families. It would create an accelerated path for service members and their spouses with bachelors degrees to become teachers.
“We’re hoping to have that online within the next few months, and we’re really excited for our school district and also for the Coast Guard to potentially have an avenue to work in our schools when they do arrive,” she said.
Juneau is expected to homeport up to two polar ice breakers in 2029, which could bring in hundreds of military families.
In addition to teaching positions, the district also has vacancies for specialists and paraeducators.
The district will continue to hire for positions on its website until they are all filled. The first day of school is scheduled for Aug. 20.
