Emergency licenses putting teachers in classrooms

Feb. 25—For rural school officials, finding teachers is becoming increasingly difficult. Indiana has a well-documented teacher shortage and it is especially difficult for rural schools.

"There are just fewer teacher candidates out there. That's a reality. This is my 26th year as a superintendent and in the last several years I have seen the applications for all open positions plummet. In the hard to fill areas like special education and STEM it is really tough to find people," said Loogootee Community Schools Superintendent Brian Harmon. "I don't see an end to it. It is especially challenging for rural schools. Metropolitan areas have a large pool of candidates to pull from. But if you are very rural you have to find someone who specifically wants to fill the area you need and someone that wants to live in the area."

School officials say that where they used to get dozens of applications for teaching jobs, these days they often only get one or two or sometimes none. That is especially true as schools have increased emphasis on STEM education. That shortage has led to school systems relying on emergency teaching permits.

"We have used transition to teaching and emergency permits in the science classes in the past. I do have a junior high math teacher who is in transition to teaching. She has a four year degree but is taking additional classes so that she will be licensed in the next year or two," said North Daviess Community Schools Superintendent Jodi Berry. "It helps fill those voids where we have no applicants that are completely qualified. Science and math is where we have had to use this the most."

"We are getting fewer applicants for teaching than we have ever received before. We did have a point about two or three years ago when we had to go without an upper-level science teacher. We had to get somebody without a permit to come in and use an emergency license since we couldn't find anybody," said Barr-Reeve Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Travis Madison. "It's something we are all working on. Each school seems to have something different they are working with and we are just trying to be proactive, identify our needs early and then reach out. It is something that will probably require us to think outside of the box in some of these areas and use the alternate means of licensure."

In Washington, high school algebra teacher Jeanette Socks came out of college with an elementary license. She decided to change direction with her first job and move up to a high school teacher.

"I am originally from Indianapolis and tried to find a job in Indy. I applied for several and even interviewed for one then (Washington assistant superintendent) Mr. (Steve) Peterson contacted me to come down to Washington and interview and I jumped at the chance. I knew high school would be something different than what I was used to but I decided to take a leap of faith and I am glad I did because it is better fit for me than elementary was," said Socks. "I had to apply for the emergency permit. It is good for a year and then I had to take the high school math test. I passed that and am fully licensed in high school math now."

Emergency permits have increasingly been utilized by local schools to fill the void when the perfect applicant is not available.

"I don't know of a district that hasn't utilized teachers with emergency licenses. I know we had some at the high school. One in science, one in math. We might have had more," said Peterson. "Anything you can do to get the right candidates in front of kids is going to be helpful. It is a matter of getting them the training and support they need. Most of the people I have worked with emergency permits have eventually finished whatever they needed to do and became fully licensed to teach."

As schools have now begun adding more career based education the need for teachers with specialties is expanding and at the same time becoming more difficult to fill. That has left schools to lean even more on emergency licenses.

"There are other areas. We have a teacher in transition to teaching in consumer sciences. She has a four-year degree but not one in education," said Berry. "There are times when we have problems filling positions in career and technical ed also. It has helped us out. Let us think outside the box. Sometimes these teachers need a little more mentoring, but it is a win for schools when we can find someone who is willing to fill the spot even though they may not have the exact license or certifications are required."

And the need to fill those voids in the classroom has led to even other ways to get people to become teachers.

"I know there are different avenues. People could become an adjunct teacher if they are transferring to teaching from the business sector. We have not used that much, but that is not to say we won't, especially as we adjust our curriculum and move forward with our Viking Enterprises and shift some of our career focus to different types of classes," said Madison. "There is a shift going on in the state toward doing some of those things, which I think is good."

School officials say that they most likely will have to use the unconventional teaching choices in the future.

"Sometimes we don't have any other choice. We can't even find a licensed candidate for the position," said Harmon. "When we find someone, we feel has the attributes to be a successful teacher in the classroom and the only hold-up is that they are not licensed and there is a pathway for them to get there and they are willing to do that. We will continue to engage that emergency license."