With just a short amount of time before the first day of school, many districts nationwide are scrambling to fill teacher vacancies left unfilled and are taking desperate measures to do so.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that some districts seeking to quickly fill vacancies have gone so far as to recruit teachers internationally while other districts have recruited students who have not completed certification to get started early.

In one district in particular, The New York Times reported the superintendent was holding community forums to ask members of the community to spread the word about the teaching positions available.

Today, another district is making news for its desperate measures.

Albuquerque Public Schools is taking a new "approach to handling teacher vacancies by asking district personnel who work in a variety of jobs to step back into classrooms as temporary instructors for up to 17 days, provided they have a teaching license," said The Albuquerque Journal.

Administration in the district calls the vacancies a normal part of the education process, but says using licensed personnel such as librarians and assistant principals to fill the roles is "unprecedented," the article said.

"Currently, there are more than 100 teacher vacancies at APS, according to the district website, which shows high demand in special education, bilingual instruction and upper-level math and science," which is in line with the kinds of vacancies districts nationwide are seeing.

The move to utilize educators from different roles to fill vacancies is being commended by the Albuquerque Teachers Federation; the article said the AFT has called the decision "honorable" and a better alternative to overcrowding classrooms or hiring a not-yet-licensed teacher to fill the role.

Read the full story here and comment with your thoughts below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

08/13/2015