Teacher shortages are a problem throughout Roseville Area High School (RAHS), especially during the 2021-2022 school year. Students and teachers have expressed their complaints about this issue, saying that it’s deeper than just absent jobs.

As of right now, departments at RAHS like English, Business, and Art are having shortages in teachers.

Job positions right now at RAHS remain empty, as students continue to have substitute teachers everyday or go to the library for quiet work time.

The head of the media center, Gregory Martinson, talks about how his day job is interrupted due to this. “It means that I bring my day job with me when I go home at night and I am not able to focus on it in the same way I would when I am not subbing.”

Students, on the other hand, talk about how their learning experience is incomplete with substitute teachers teaching the class almost every day. Sophomore Ava Koch says, “For me personally, I do not have a teacher in my Keyboarding for Employment class. Subsequently the class is not as fun as it could be.”

Sophomore Veronica Carlson-Ross doesn’t have a teacher for Art Exploration, as her original teacher is teaching another class. She says teacher shortages affect a variety of students and faculty, and getting the right teacher to teach the class has a positive impact on students.

Additionally, many teachers think having substitute teachers everyday doesn’t challenge students. Photography teacher, Christina Owen, talks about how she is hesitant to take a week off in November, because she thinks they won’t be able to find anybody to substitute and students will accomplish less. When asked how teacher shortages affect her teaching, she said, “I’ve taken some time out of my prep hour and grading time to sub for classes who don’t have teachers.”

With teacher shortages, it makes it difficult to find candidates for the open positions available, as the head of the English department, Pierre MacGillis expressed. When asked about why a teacher shortage is important he said, “It’s important that students have great teachers so they can be supported and challenged as best as possible.”

Many teachers also point out the fact that teacher shortages start with representation in the teacher department. When asked about it, MacGillis says, “We should also continue our programs that encourage students to become teachers themselves.”

The school/district is doing what they can to solve this issue. Martinson is the chief negotiator for our local teachers and said, “We bargain our contract and we are doing that right now. We have made proposals about what the school or district might do, but I am not sure I can make those proposals public.”