As San Benito High School tries to fill as many as 15 teaching
positions by next year, the school’s board of directors approved
filing paperwork that will allow the district to temporarily hire
teachers without state-required teaching credentials.
Hollister – As San Benito High School tries to fill as many as 15 teaching positions by next year, the school’s board of directors approved filing paperwork that will allow the district to temporarily hire teachers without state-required teaching credentials.
During the district’s board of trustees meeting last week, board members approved the filing of a “Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.” The declaration allows the district to temporarily hire teachers who do not possess credentials required by the state to teach in high school only if they cannot locate credentialed teachers by the time school start next fall.
“Our need fluctuates each year, and will likely change by the time school resumes for the 2005-06 school year,” said Donald Balfour, director of human resources. “But presently we are in need of 15 new teachers for next year.”
A person hired to teach under an emergency permit need only have a bachelors degree and can work up to 30 school days in a regular education class and 21 days in a special education class, Balfour said, adding that teachers using emergency permits are only used until a properly credentialed teacher is found.
This year SBHS had 16 teachers using emergency permits, but Balfour said he doesn’t yet know how many will be needed for 2005-06.
“We are presently recruiting and hope to fill all positions with fully credentialed teachers,” he said.
The need for teachers at SBHS could be good news for some of the 37 Hollister School District teachers who were laid off last month, but only if those teachers have the proper credentials.
While most elementary and middle school teachers have multiple subject credentials that allow them to teach many subjects, high school teachers must have single subject credentials, such as a credential for teaching science only. Teachers with multiple subject credentials cannot transition over to teaching high school without obtaining a single subject credential, Balfour said.
Meanwhile, the district is casting a wide net for credentialed teachers, according to Balfour, by posting jobs on the district’s website and other education websites as well as advertising the district’s need for teachers in local and state newspapers and at job fairs held throughout the state.
San Benito High School is currently seeking teachers for special education, math, English, journalism, earth science, social science, vocational business, Spanish and physical education.
Luke Roney covers politics and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
