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Classroom Challenges: Here's how Coastal Bend districts are working to keep teachers in the classroom

No matter what you do or where you work, the last two years have not been easy. The pandemic brought challenges no one could have prepared for- including educators.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Burnout is a word that’s been used often this past year as employees across various professions have felt pressure due to a lack of staffing.

The Texas State Teachers Association surveyed 688 teachers and 70 percent said they are seriously considering quitting within the year.

“The amount of stress and trauma from COVID-19 and from the recent shooting in a school has escalated the amount of anxiety and fear among teachers and school personnel,” said President of the American Federation of Teachers, Nancy Vera.

RELATED: Classroom Challenges: How Coastal Bend schools are prioritizing students mental health

Vera says these factors have led to more educators leaving the profession.

“Now, school districts are in dire need of teachers,” said Vera. “I think we’ve seen, at the state level, thousands of teachers leave the profession and here in the Corpus Christi area, we’ve seen hundreds.”

Districts across the country, including right here in the Coastal Bend, are working to find more teachers and some positions are harder to fill.

“I can’t find a Spanish teacher if it depends on our lives, they’re not going through the University, there’s no one teaching Spanish,” said West Oso ISD Superintendent Dr. Conrado Garcia.

“We’ve had, at times, difficulty having language arts (teachers). Sometimes it’s like crickets. You post a job and literally no applicants.”

This is an issue Ingleside ISD leaders are seeing too.

RELATED: Classroom Challenges: Overcoming pandemic learning gap

“Because there’s not that pull of teachers anymore and not anybody new coming into it, school districts end up taking teachers from each other,” said Ingleside ISD Superintendent Troy Mirkovich.

Mirkovich said that’s why districts have to be competitive when it comes to salaries.

“We’re looking at about a $4500 increase, one-time increase stipend amount, for all employees,” said Mirkovich. “We’re looking at a 3 percent raise for our teachers as well and increasing our insurance providing.”

The largest school district in the Coastal Bend, Corpus Christi ISD is also staying competitive and not just when it comes to pay.

An 88 percent contribution rate towards an employee's health insurance premiums. So we offer an employee $575 a month to offset the cost of their health insurance premiums,” said CCISD Chief Human Resources Officer Debbie Cruz. “That’s the highest contribution rate of all other districts in the area.”

West Oso ISD is trying to do what they can and still are offering their teachers a raise despite not having as much money as other districts.

“I’m glad other districts have the resources, I really am, but would we like to have those kind of dollars absolutely,” said Dr. Garcia.

RELATED: Classroom Challenges: An inside look at security and safety across Coastal Bend school districts

Dr. Garcia adds, for West Oso, to even attempt to keep up with other districts, they need resources like the ESSER funding.

The ESSER funding was dollars for schools made possible through the passing of the American Rescue Plan and West Oso isn’t the only district who received that. We reached out to the governor's office if they know of any plans to extend that funding and they said the following:

While ESSER is administered by TEA, it is federal funding, and they control extending its timeline. We continue working with state and local leaders to swiftly provide all available resources to communities.

“We’ve hired a number of people and we’ve done tutoring programs and so on, it’s going to be a sad day when that funding ends and those people have to leave,” said Dr. Garcia.

Nancy Vera says it’s not always about the money

“They may not be able to give teachers or staff substantial raises but they’re doing everything to show they’re a family and that they care about each other, and I think that’s most important,” said Vera.

West Oso ISD created wellness rooms at every campuses so that teachers have a place where they can unwind.

“We want you to know we care for you,” said Dr. Garcia.

Other districts we’ve highlighted in our Classroom Challenges series this week such as Four Bluff, Robstown and Sinton ISD are also increasing pay for their staff.

RELATED: Classroom Challenges: How Coastal Bend districts are making sure their students will be safe

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