EVEN WITH 275 NEW teachers on the payroll this year, Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) still has a number of critical vacancies that leave holes in the classrooms.
The Charles County Board of Education currently has a long list of certified openings on their website. However, Board of Education spokesperson Katie O’Malley-Simpson told The Bay Net that as of today there are actually only 25 teaching positions open.
Seven of these are elementary teachers for Craik, Turner, Mt. Hope/Nanjemoy, Barnhart and Diggs elementary schools. Some of the current job openings were created to relieve crowded classrooms across the school system.
CCPS still needs three special education teachers. Gale-Bailey Elementary needs one, so does the F.B. Gwynn Center. The system also needs a speech pathologist to work with students at multiple schools.
Half of the middle schools have more teaching holes. Hanson and Stoddert Middle Schools need a science teacher each. Mattawoman needs a science teacher and two math teachers. Newly opened Davis still needs someone for language arts.
Among the High Schools only two, Thomas Stone and McDonough, of the six are fully staffed. La Plata needs a math teacher. North Point needs someone for technology and Air Force ROTC studies. Westlake needs teachers for Navy ROTC and earth science. The worst school for staffing holes is Lackey High School in Bryans Road. Lackey needs teachers for math, earth science, library/media, and family/consumer science.
“The critical area shortages are most pronounced in math, science and special education, which is statewide and reflected in our vacancies,” O’Malley-Simpson explained.
According to O’Malley-Simpson, because these positions require specialized skills and are critical to education, most of the openings are currently filled with qualified long-term substitutes while CCPS looks for additional staff.
“Long-term subs are required to have a degree,” O’Malley-Simpson told The Bay Net. “Human resources attempts to match [substitutes’] degrees with the open positions at the secondary level (, a math degree with a math position, or English degree in a language arts position) whenever possible.”
However, at the last Board of Education public forum Joe DaGrasso, parent of a Mattawoman student, commented for the forum record that the long-term substitute teaching his child’s math class delivers grossly substandard instruction. Mr. DaGrasso, whom The Bay Net could not reach for further comment, complained that his child receives busy-work instead of proper math lessons.
According to O’Malley-Simpson, CCPS expects long-term substitutes to follow the same curriculum as certified teachers. They are also supposed to be monitored by the department chair. Long-term substitutes should additionally be assisted, monitored and observed by their vice principals and the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) teachers.
“At some schools, such as Mattawoman, a gifted resource teacher works with new teachers as well as long-term subs at least one day a week. The gifted resource teacher working with Mattawoman is a math teacher,” said O
