The great teacher shortage — it’s a national problem

“The one thing that teachers could count on was at least some degree of separation between their home life and their professional life. … What the pandemic did for an entire year was pretty much blend those two. Teachers felt like they were constantly at work. That pressure just mounts and mounts,” says Steve Gebhart, principal of San Pedro High School.

“The one thing that teachers could count on was at least some degree of separation between their home life and their professional life. … What the pandemic did for an entire year was pretty much blend those two. Teachers felt like they were constantly at work. That pressure just mounts and mounts,” says Steve Gebhart, principal of San Pedro High School. Photo by Shutterstock.

LAUSD and other school districts nationwide are struggling to fill positions, including teachers and substitutes, crossing guards, and lunchroom attendants. “Our entire profession is in a crisis mode because people just don't respect it and appreciate it the way that it used to be,” says San Pedro High School principal Steve Gebhart. “The continued systemic pressures that are put on the classroom teacher and just all levels of educators on the school site is just something [educators] are not able to manage anymore.”

Also, jury selection is underway in the trial of three white Georgia men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery, a Black 25-year-old who was out jogging. Ambitious climate change legislation is part of the $3.5 trillion budget package that Congressional democrats are debating, and the party’s self-imposed deadline to pass it is the end of this month.

From this Episode:

Credits

Host:

Madeleine Brand

Producers:

Sarah Sweeney, Angie Perrin, Michell Eloy, Amy Ta, Brian Hardzinski, Bennett Purser, Caleigh Wells