Update: 10/31/2019
The math position has been filled by a new teacher, Elena Janicik.
At Hazelwood East high school there is a shortage in the math and science department. This is taking away students’ academic mentoring period forcing teachers to take over more classes.
During 6th hour many students used this time to get extra help from teachers which included making up tests or assignments. Since the school year of 2019-2020, some students are not able to take advantage of this extra time because they have to take a recommended math class. Of the 4 years of high school, you are required to have 1 math class every 4 years. Unfortunately, Hazelwood East being understaffed caused some math teachers to teach an extra math class and it didn’t matter if that was the subject of math they taught already or never have.
̈ Even though it’s academic mentoring you really are supposed to be teaching kids. So now that I am making you have a class you’re just teaching kids like everyone else is supposed to be teaching kids,̈ said Ms. Mecoy, a counselor at Hazelwood East Highschool.
This is understandable due to teachers already having a planning period in which they are free to plan or just have extra time for themselves. During 6th-period teachers do have a little lead way in what they do because academic mentoring doesn’t have a specific curriculum. But, this is also not fair compared to other teachers such as English, social studies, and fine arts who don’t have to take on extra work or needing that additional time to prepare because they don’t have a required class to teach.
Kipp Gilomen, Senior principal of Hazelwood East High School, about the teacher situation stated, “The shortage of teachers wasn’t just a city-wide shortage but there was also a lack of math and science teachers in general which is why they ran into so many challenges filling those positions.” He even stated, ̈ they had to reach outside of their own candidate pool of teachers, not just statewide but nationwide.” Though he was worried about finding a teacher he was also worried about the students’ needs of education.
This simply could not have occurred overnight. Before the beginning of the school year, Hazelwood East knew they didn’t have teachers for some of the students who were taking a specific math class. Even though there has been a shortage of teachers nationwide this does not explain why some stùdents for the first month and a half didn’t have a teacher. Now students are trying to get caught up forcing the teachers who did not plan to teach this class, rush and execute the curriculum but have students possibly be behind due to a lack of hiring.
While teachers and administration are still looking for a teacher for math class, math teachers they already have will continue to teach an additional math class to the students who don’t have a teacher. Hopefully, this situation is just temporary and doesn’t have a great effect on teachers and students.
