San Juan School seventh graders leaned over white expanses of butcher paper and drew flowers, butterflies, triangles and hearts as they wrapped their minds around fractions.
The classroom buzzing with more than 50 bodies seemed to be having a typical math lesson except the man at the electronic whiteboard was Ruben Zepeda, Aromas-San Juan Unified School District’s superintendent.
The statewide teacher deficit left the rural district starting the year short two instructors, so Zepeda has been teaching math, science and physical education from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and doing his administrative duties during lunch and after work.
“Until I find high-quality teachers, we’ll continue this way as long as we can,” he told the Free Lance in late September.
The district recently secured two long-term substitutes and one started Monday while the second starts the following week, Anita Hendrickson, the human resources manager, confirmed to the Free Lance on Wednesday morning. That means Zepeda—the highest paid employee of the district with about $150,000 in pay and benefits—will soon be able to leave the classroom and go back to his official duties.
The district has gone through the hiring process four times, Zepeda told the Free Lance in September. The first time, the school ran out of candidates as the top people were hired away to other districts, he said. During the fourth execution of the process, a potential teacher expressed loving the school but had one more interview that day and said he would call in a few hours, Zepeda said.
“At the end of the day, he ended up going to Gilroy,” the superintendent said.
The neighboring Gilroy Unified School District offers teachers a salary schedule that starts at $49,748 and increases to $93,101 depending on their level of education and teaching experience, according to the current certificated salary schedule.
Aromas-San Juan Unified School District offers salaries ranging from $44,148 for staff with provisional credentials to $92,564 for veteran teachers, according to the current certificated salary schedule.
In an effort to attract the best teachers during a time when they’re in high demand, some districts have offered signing bonuses. That is not the case at the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District.
“Our budget is not designed for a hiring bonus,” Zepeda said. “So sometimes it’s a little hard to compete.”
The Hollister School District also did not add signing bonuses during the staffing squeeze but increased those already in place for special education, said Assistant Superintendent Dennis Kurtz, who spoke with the Free Lance on Sept. 28.
San Benito High School administrators have also considered offering additional money to teachers choosing their district.
“We’ve kicked around the idea of signing bonuses,” said John Perales, the district superintendent, in late September. “We’re not quite sure we’re at the point where we need to go there.”
The problem isn’t just filling classrooms with teachers. It is also finding people to replace those instructors when they take a day off.
“There are no long-term subs available, either,” Zepeda said.
The teacher shortage has meant many school districts—including San Benito High School and the Hollister School District—are putting administrators in the classroom each week because they can’t find enough substitutes.
The San Benito High School classrooms were fully staffed when Perales spoke to the Free Lance in September but the district is considering a bonus for substitutes who work a certain number of non-consecutive days, he said.
The Hollister School District is facing such a shortage of substitutes that it is looking into buying banners to place around town asking people interested in the job to call a number, the assistant superintendent said.
The people who can teach are teaching, Zepeda said. The district is waiting for the university to push out another crop of graduates or for retirees who have been out of work for at least 6 months to come back on a temporary basis.
“I guarantee you this week, they’ll be a day that we’re short substitutes,” Kurtz told the Free Lance in late September. “In fact, it happened this morning.”
