When math and computer science teacher Debra Jerdon opened a recruitment letter from Osceola County, she joked with her students that she found it tempting. To fill teacher positions, Brevard County’s adjacent neighbor to the west is recruiting teachers from nearby districts and even from Puerto Rico.
“My first reaction was that it must be unethical for one Florida school district to directly harm another by causing students to not have a teacher when the school year had already started,” Jerdon said.
According to the Florida Education Association, almost 7,000 teaching vacancies existed throughout the state at the start of the school year. As a result, teachers received postcards recruiting them to work in Osceola County at schools where the average grades for students are either F or D. The cards said that they will receive $15,000 more annually for teaching there.
Because of her experience teaching at a low-income school in Clinton County, Ohio, Jerdon did not accept the Osceola county letter’s offer.
“I left one school district to go to another school district that paid much better due to poor salaries and conflicts over money,” Jerdon said. “Despite the lower pay, I missed the students at the first school who were well-mannered and interested in learning.
When I started teaching at the new school in Clinton County, I had to always deal with discipline problems, so I didn’t consider going to Osceola for even a minute.”
With the teacher shortage already affecting West Shore and the staff having to hire three teachers before this school year, college specialist and lead teaching mentor Angela Feldbush said she worries that Osceola County’s recruitment efforts will cause teachers to reconsider retirement plans.
“The way retirement works is you retire with an average of your last five years salary, so if you were planning to retire in five years, moving to a county that paid that much more would really be beneficial,” Feldbush said. “If you’re a teacher that’s not tied here that, you know, you don’t own a home or have kids then it is really tempting to look at other counties or even other states because the salary scales in other states can be much higher.”
Brevard Federation of Teacher’s Building Representative, Heather da Silva said the offer is enticing.
“My life is here, my family is here,” da Silva said. “But by the same token, I have no problem picking up and moving.”
After years of low pay, the Brevard Public Schools announced that a $10,000 school staff salary increase would occur on Aug. 31. Despite the raise, the yearly pay for teachers is $28,000- $56,000. At the higher end it is still $4,000 under the average United States salary.
“While that is great, we were originally supposed to be making that [money] 10 years ago,” Jerdon said. “Our state government decided to do away with the traditional methods of paying teachers, and due to a poor economy our salaries were frozen for a long time.”
Feldbush said a situation similar to the Osceola County letters occurred a few years ago.
“We lost some teachers that went down to Monroe County in the Keys because they have a much higher salary scale,” Feldbush said. “I worry every year when teachers leave. We almost always manage to get really great new people in, and I think that’s part of the process, but it’s a little scary when it’s a lot at once, especially with [Principal] Fleming and [Assistant Principal] Halbuer both leaving this year.”
Within three years, West Shore has turned over 50 percent of its staff, replacing many with new teachers who take a long time to train and who are not guaranteed to stay.
“The thing that happens to new teachers is that they come in and they’re like, ‘I’m going to change the world,’ after six months,  they can barely remember to change their socks because this is the kind of profession that will suck you dry,” Heather da Silva said.
Another aspect of the teacher shortage is current staff members undertaking positions they did not sign up for.
Kimberly Dias, a teacher at Dr. W J Creel Elementary in Melbourne, has increased her work hours since the beginning of COVID-19. She transitioned to a literacy coach position.
“While I was still trying to learn how to manage my position as a literacy coach, I had to be a substitute teacher for many different teachers in our building because we didn’t have substitutes,” Dias said. “The following year, many of our sixth-grade teachers left so I, along with our math coach and two interventionists, was placed in the classroom.”
Losing teachers Rebecca Matoska, Kaitlyn Hoskins and David Thompson, and having at least six staff members planning to retire after this year has given guidance members work to do so there is a full staff.
“One of my jobs is as lead mentor, and so I’m supposed to be helping the new teachers,” Feldbush said. “As the old teachers retire and we have a larger number of new teachers, it just takes more time and support to get them up to speed. Many of them take off and do great work, but they still need a lot of help and support.”
Feldbush said many new teachers accept their jobs without having prior experience or even a teaching degree.
“Some of those people turn into really great teachers,” Feldbush said. “It just takes more time and support for them to learn things that a traditionally certified teacher would have learned while they were going to school.”
Despite the low pay and the long work hours, Jerdon said the administration does its best to make teaching a pleasant.
“[They are] very aware of the burdens on teachers and they try very hard to guard our time and help with anything that they can,” Jerdon said, “They often express their appreciation for all that we do. Most parents are also very appreciative.”
Feldbush remains optimistic regard the school’s future.
“I think there is going to be a big turnover, and it might be difficult at first, but those new teachers are so full of energy and great ideas that once they’ve got their feet under them and have confidence, they’re going to be terrific,” Feldbush said. “It’s just going to take time, and it’s going to be left to the people who aren’t gone to help them and get them into the Wildcat nation.”