Recruitment Center Seeks to Fill 2,600 Teacher Jobs

With nearly every seat in the waiting room filled and more people streaming through the doors of the Los Angeles school district’s teacher recruiting center every few minutes one day recently, it was hard to tell that Los Angeles is short on teachers.

But the nation’s second-largest school district is looking for 2,600 new teachers by September--especially elementary, math, science, special education and bilingual instructors.

Despite a nationwide shortage of teachers, the district’s chief recruiter said he is confident that he will meet his mark, although he anticipates that half of the new teachers will be hired on an emergency basis until they obtain full credentials.

‘Lots and Lots of People’

“There is lots of interest in education now,” said Michael Acosta, director of teacher selection for the 579,000-student district. “We’re seeing lots and lots of people in here . . . higher quality people who are interested in making (teaching) a career.”

A recent survey of the nation’s 100 largest school districts found 32,300 vacancies in the coming school year, according to the National Education Assn., the largest teachers’ union in the country. The need will grow, union officials said, because it is estimated that in the next six years, 50% of the country’s 2.1 million teachers will retire or will leave the profession. Most of those who quit before retirement age do so because of dissatisfaction with working conditions and wages, the survey showed.

However, according to the nation’s other major teachers’ union, the American Federation of Teachers, an encouraging trend is emerging. Based on a recent survey of 18 states, the federation reports that 51% of the new hires are former teachers who had left the profession but have decided to come back. If the rehiring of former teachers continues for the next five to seven years, federation analysts said, the severity of the shortage may be lessened.

In Los Angeles, district officials agree that former teachers are returning to the profession, but not in sufficient numbers to fill all the vacancies. So far, the district has hired 1,900 new teachers. That leaves 700 vacancies yet to fill, with two months to go until the start of the fall term.

Although their task remains a large one, recruiters have noticed some positive signs. According to Acosta, the district appears to be attracting more and better-qualified applicants. There has been a noticeable increase in inquiries from candidates in other states as well as other countries, Canada in particular, he said.

In addition, Acosta said, this year’s applicants are generally “very well-dressed” and knowledgeable about the district’s requirements, which the chief recruiter pointed to as indications of their professionalism and commitment to teaching as a career.

4,000 Candidates

Since May, 4,000 prospective teachers have marched through a special one-stop center the district set up in downtown Los Angeles last year to streamline what had been a long and drawn-out recruiting process. The staff--beefed up from 45 to 100 for the hectic summer months--expects to screen 10,000 prospects by the time the fall term begins.

Part of the reason for the increased interest, Acosta believes, is the district’s $20,298 beginning pay. Although not the highest entry-level salary for public school teachers in the country, he said, it is more attractive than what districts in many other states are able to pay. In New York, for instance, the statewide average pay for beginning teachers is $18,500, according to a recent survey by the American Federation of Teachers; in Texas, the average starting salary is $16,400, and in Vermont it is $12,900.

Local union representatives, however, are distressed by the district’s willingness to hire people who do not have full teaching credentials. They fear such hiring will lower standards.

“We’ve never been happy about it, even though we understand that there is a shortage and teachers have to be hired,” said Marilyn Landau, a vice president of United Teachers-Los Angeles.

Acosta defended the practice, saying that recruiters are trying hard to ensure that those hired without full credentials know their particular subjects well. What they don’t know--specifically, classroom management, lesson planning and learning strategies--they will have an opportunity to learn, he said.

The probationary teachers are given a three-week crash course on methodology and management before school starts, and are aided by instructional advisers and mentor teachers during the year. Although union officials say the support is inadequate, and that inexperienced teachers burn out fast, district analysts say that retention of new teachers has improved. One indication is that 90% to 93% of the new teachers placed in the hard-to-staff inner-city schools last year have stayed in their jobs, according to Kathy Price, who helps oversee personnel matters.

Job Fairs Scoured

Teams of Los Angeles district recruiters scoured college campuses and teacher job fairs up and down the state in April, Acosta said. One team went to Canada, which has an abundance of special education teachers, and wound up offering jobs to about 25 Canadian teachers.

Because of the scarcity of bilingual teachers, the district may go as far as Spain to recruit. Acosta said he is working with the state Department of Education to develop a program that will help Spanish teachers move here and satisfy state and local teaching requirements.

Acosta said the district searched locally for other hard-to-find specialists. Recruiters targeted math, science and English majors in local colleges and universities, trying to persuade them to pursue teaching. “We told the science people, for instance, if you think you don’t want to play with test tubes but would rather be with people, try teaching.”

‘I Have Two Options’

Willis Lee, a recent college graduate with a master’s degree in physics, might be persuaded by that argument. He was one of about 100 applicants who passed through the district’s recruiting center one day last week.

“I have two options now,” said Lee, a native of Korea who recently moved to Los Angeles from Hawaii, where he attended college. “I am thinking about going into teaching or industry. I’m applying for both. In private industry, I could get higher pay. But I think I would like teaching.”

Also waiting in line for an interview was James R. Wilson of Encino. Wilson was a junior high school counselor in Detroit, but moved to Los Angeles two weeks ago to seek sunshine and a new challenge.

“There seems to be a need for teachers, especially males,” he said, explaining his desire to switch to teaching. Having come from an inner-city school, he said he wouldn’t mind an inner-city assignment here. “I think I would prefer it,” he said.

Graduated in June

Another prospective teacher was Catherine McAfee of Woodland Hills, who graduated in June from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in sociology. She had planned to take more classes to get a full credential before looking for a teaching job. An adviser had warned McAfee that, without the extra training, she would be so unprepared that she would find teaching overwhelming.

But McAfee recently changed her mind because she decided that she did not want to wait another year to start teaching.

“It’s something I really want to do,” she said. “I think it’s a great time to enter teaching.”