Local Districts Find Ways To Attract Teachers

Apr. 30 - KGO (KGO) -- California school districts are having a very difficult time finding qualified math and science teachers -- there just simply aren't enough of them. Desperate to find the right instructors, some schools are coming up with rather innovative recruitment ideas.

Patrick Flannery, once a banker, now teaches a finance, algebra and calculus at Burton High School in San Francisco. He brings valuable experience to the classroom.

Patrick Flannery, teacher: "I've seen the kind of skills that people need to succeed and those aren't exactly the same skills that we reward in school."

San Francisco Unified School District wants to attract more teachers like him. In fact, they need to hire 300 new teachers in math, science and special education by next fall -- money is one reason for the shortage.

Karen Llittle, San Francisco Unified School District: "In reality, science and math teachers specifically can make quite a bit more in other professions than they do in teaching."

The school district is now sending recruiters to more job fairs and looking for help at IBM through their Transition to Teaching program.

Gwyneth Borden, IBM: "We have so many employees in the next ten years that are in the baby boom generation who are going to be retiring and a lot of them are young and active and still wanting to do things and here's a great pathway that they can enter into."

And IBM will pay up to 15 thousand dollars towards their tuition to become a credentialed math or science teacher.

San Jose Unified School District is also searching in new places.

Karen Fuqua, San Jose Unified School District: "We have probably about a hundred teachers that we are looking for next year -- that's what we figured, about a hundred to a hundred twenty five teachers for next year -- and we have done a very active recruitment this year. Our HR department has gone up and down California into Oregon, Washington"

San Jose is reaching out to school district parents who may want to teach. The district helps them enroll in local colleges.

The state department of education calls the shortage of teachers in general in California critical.

The state superintendent of schools says the shortage is expected to be as high as 33,000 teachers by 2015.

Flannery says one way to fill in the gap is to attract more teachers on a part-time basis.

Patrick Flannery, teacher: "Not every 55-year-old wants to take on thirty teenagers for a full day."

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