PHILADELPHIA - School officials in Philadelphia believe the district won't be impacted by a national shortage of teachers due to strong employment numbers.
The School District of Philadelphia told FOX 29 it is 97% staffed for the upcoming school year and still actively recruiting hiring non-instructional roles.
Data provided by the district showed a staffing percentage about 95% for positions including principal, vice principal and teacher.
Counselors, according to the district, are at 94% hiring capacity and special education assists are at 76.8% MORE LOCAL HEADLINES"Despite shortages in teacher market, we are over 97% staffed for the school year and off to a strong start," a district spokesperson said. "For non-instructional roles, we are still actively recruiting and hiring for roles and show larger needs for certain school-based non-instructional roles." Meanwhile, parents of students in understaffed districts believe the teacher shortage could stunt the education of students still catching up from the COVID-19 pandemic. "My youngest one, he had to get set back a year because being on the computers, he didn’t grab on to it like he should," Fard Udin Muhammad said. "So now what?