Large staff shortage in Lexington 2; both staff, students stressed

by Olivia D.

During the new school year, which began on Monday, August 7, there has been a large staff shortage in Lexington 2. Both the staff and students of AHS have been suffering due to the lack of educators, administrators, and custodians, causing large schedule changes. In response, Lexington 2 as a whole has been making efforts to hire more staff around schools and providing financial incentives for teachers who teach overloads.

Due to the lack of staff at AHS there have been multiple schedule changes made for students that are stressing all members of the school community. Student schedules have been sporadically changed due to the lack of educators, which is putting high pressure on the current teachers. With the lack of educators in specific, classes have had a rise of students in every class, which makes the learning environment very tense for everyone.

The schedule changes have affected nearly all students in the district, and are having a negative impact. Students are being placed into random classes, because there aren't enough teachers. The common elective classes of Journalism, Accounting, and P.E have had a surplus of extra students.

One of the current P.E teachers, Ms. Hutchins, stated in a recent interview, “We [the gym coaches] have been affected, because this is where they [the guidance counselors or API] send the kids when they don’t have any more other classes available.” In other words, classes like PE become a dumping ground.

Students are being put through unnecessary stress due to the sporadic class changes as well. The students are very aware of the stress that the lack of staff has been putting on both them and the teachers.

A freshman who wishes to remain anonymous stated, “It [the staff shortage] has definitely had a negative impact, because I know the teachers are also stressed.”

It has also been stated by a large group of students that due to the lack of custodians, there has been a decline in the schools overall cleanliness. An additional freshman, Alania M, made the statement, “The bathrooms are way dirtier than I imagined they would be.”

It is evident that the staff shortage in Lexington 2 is part of a larger trend nationwide. Fewer and fewer teachers want to stay in the classroom as it becomes harder and harder to do so. In an online article written by The Messeger, it is stated, ”Fewer than 1 in 5 Americans said they would encourage a young person to become a K-12 teacher…” and “Why? Low pay, lack of resources and a stressful work environment are just a couple of the reasons.”

With the start of teachers wanting to leave the teaching field due to the lack of pay, lack of resources, and stressful work environment, it creates the pattern of a lack of educators.

The district is very aware of the current staff situation, and there have been multiple incentives put in place to hire more staff. There has been an averaging bonus for all teachers of $2,000 in District 2, and have had slight pay raises put into place for all staff. It is hoped that there will be a rise of staff members throughout the school year.

The incentives put in place in Lexington 2 can be seen on the district's website, https://www.lex2.org/. There are also other sources online that have covered the current staff issue, like https://www.edweek.org/, https://themessenger.com/, and many other sources online with information.