South and southwest suburban high schools well staffed, but see drop in number of teacher applicants

Most south and southwest suburban high school districts started the year fully staffed with teachers and bus drivers, completed teacher contracts and security updates.

“We’re in a good situation. We don’t have any unfilled licensed professionals,” said Lockport Township High School District 205 Superintendent Robert McBride.

McBride said the school board hired new teachers in the spring, with more hires taking place over the summer because of life changes. Twenty teaching positions were filled from May through August, he said.

This school year is the final year of the teacher’s contract, McBride said, so negotiations will take place in the second semester.

High School District 218, with Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Shepard in Palos Heights and Richards in Oak Lawn, is similarly well situated, said Superintendent Josh Barron. The district is fully staffed after filling 20 vacancies mostly caused by retirements, he said.

High School District 230, which includes Sandburg in Orland Park, Andrew in Tinley Park and Stagg in Palos Hills, hired 32 teachers and is fully staffed, officials said.

“We are ready for (our students),” district communications director Jennifer Waterman said.

Rich Township High District 227 is also fully staffed with teachers and school bus drivers, said communications director Matt Shank. The school board approved a contract with teachers this summer, Shank said.

At Oak Lawn Community High School, its teaching positions are filled and contract negotiations are a few years away.

Jennifer Hill, spokeswoman for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said at least a dozen school districts in the state are starting the school year with preparations for bargaining as contracts expire in 2024.

According to the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association, teachers in at least three school district are starting the year without a contract: Decatur Public Schools District 61, Kewanee Unit School District 229 and Fenton High School District 100.

“It’s not ideal, but sometimes it just happens that way,” Hill said. “Ideally, it’s resolved before the school year starts.”

Teacher shortages

While area districts are staffed, officials said there is a notable drop in the number of applicants.

McBride said about four years ago, between 60 to 80 applicants would apply for one position in Lockport, but in the last year only 10 to 20 applicants have applied per position.

What has helped the district remain competitive, he said, is the board’s approval of paying teachers well and offering professional development.

District 218 also has noticed fewer teachers seeking employment.

“Years ago we used to be able to call down to Illinois State or a state college, and say ‘hey we need a Spanish teacher, do you have any enrolled in your programs?’ And there would be 10, 15. Now we call down, there may be one or two.” Barron said. “There is just less and less interest and that’s a concern.”

Barron said District 218 high schools will offer a class to introduce students to the teaching profession. He hopes this will lead to more students considering teaching and one day joining the staff at their alma mater. Six of this year’s 20 hires are District 218 alumni.

He said District 218 has managed because it is a desirable district that still draws many applicants. But some of the district’s 13 partner schools are struggling, leading the district and others to plan a job fair for February.

One of the biggest challenges remains finding teachers of color, Barron said.

“We have tried doing more recruiting measures, whether it is through universities or historically Black colleges,” he said. “But again, some of these things are out of our control in terms of who’s enrolled in what programs and what jobs we have to offer.”

Bus drivers

Lockport District 205 is fully staffed with 50 bus drivers, McBride said, which he credits to the board approving the district pay bus drivers from March to May 2020, during the pandemic.

“That choice to continue to pay them built a lot of loyalty,” McBride said.

Some districts, like High School District 230, do not own their buses and therefore engage transportation contractors. This year, the bus driver positions are filled, according to what these third party companies have told the districts.

“We are in pretty good shape. In years past we have had to run A and B routes,” Waterman said.

When there are too few drivers, one bus may have a late route and an early route.

“We, from what I understand, are not running that this year,” she said.

Security changes

Students in Lockport will have to use their ID cards to scan into the building this year, McBride said. The district also implemented a new online absence reporting system, he said, so parents no longer have to call in their child as absent.

Waterman says some of her district’s schools are adding a few more cameras, but they aren’t expecting any major changes such as metal detectors.

In addition to having more than 400 cameras and 50 security staff, District 218 has added a security measure that includes cars and people patrolling around the buildings to ensure no entry ways are unsecured or propped open.

Oak Lawn District 229 Superintendent Shahe Bagdasarian said there is consideration of guns and weapons detecting cameras, following a recent safety audit.

“We are looking at additional measures to improve and enhance the security in our building,” Bagdasarian said.

But for Barron, it’s about securing every door.

In order to do that, he said government funding is needed. Barron thinks school security funding should be increased at the state and federal levels.

“It’s not test scores that keep me up at night,” Barron said. “It’s safety that keeps me up at night. Every school leader in the country would say that.”