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VOA慢速英语--新冠疫情加剧美国学校师资短缺问题

时间:2021-09-30 03:20:02

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COVID-19 Creates US Shortage of Teachers, School Workers

Schools in the United States are welcoming back students to classrooms this autumn. But they are facing a new problem: a shortage of teachers and school workers.

Districts have faced shortages before, but many now say it is the worst it has ever been.

The country's public schools have struggled for years with teacher shortages, especially in math, science, special education and languages. But the COVID-19 crisis has worsened the problem. The pandemic has led to an increase in retirements1 and resignations.

Districts across the country are reporting teacher shortages. In South Dakota, one district started the school year with 120 unfilled teacher positions. Across Texas, the main districts in the cities of Houston and Waco reported hundreds of teacher openings at the start of the year.

Many schools across the country have had to close classrooms because of a lack of teachers.

In Michigan, Eastpointe Community Schools moved its middle school back to online learning last week because it does not have enough teachers. The small district north of Detroit has 43 positions open — one quarter of its teachers.

When several middle school teachers resigned last week, the district started teaching online classes to avoid sending in inexperienced substitute teachers, said spokeswoman Caitlyn Kienitz.

"This is obviously not ideal, but we're able to make sure they're getting each subject area from a teacher certified2 to teach it," Kienitz said.

The National Education Association surveyed 2,690 educators in June. Thirty-two percent said the pandemic drove them to leave teaching earlier than expected. Another survey by the Rand Corporation found that teachers had high levels of stress and were three times more likely than adults in other professions to experience depression.

A school district in California's West Contra Costa County is considering hiring out-of-state math educators to teach online while a substitute teacher watches students in person.

This is the worst "shortage of labor3 we have ever had," said assistant superintendent4 Tony Wold. "We opened this year with 50 ... teaching positions open. That means students are going to 50 classrooms that do not have a permanent teacher."

There are 100 more openings for aides who help teach English learners and special needs students. There is also a shortage of cleaners, food services workers and others, Wold said.

Money is not the main problem. School districts have the money to employ more teachers and workers, thanks to billions of dollars in federal and state pandemic relief assistance. There are just not enough people looking for work.

Mike Ghelber is the assistant superintendent at the Morongo Unified5 School District in southern California. "We're all competing for a shrinking piece of the pie. I don't know if everybody is getting snatched up, or if they don't want to teach" during COVID, he said.

The Morongo school district of 8,000 students has put job advertisements in newspapers, radio and social media. Teachers have also put "now hiring" messages into their students' lunch containers. The messages include a list of openings.

Class sizes are also getting bigger.

Mount Diablo Unified School District serves 28,000 students near San Francisco, California. It has had to fill several elementary school classrooms at 32 students, the most students there can be.

At first, about 150 children signed up for online learning. But with COVID-19 infections rising, the number increased to 600 by the time school began. The same happened in Fresno, where enrollment6 in online learning went from 450 to 3,800 by the time school started.

Of the 12 officials interviewed by The Associated Press in California districts, only one said it was not facing shortages.

Long Beach Unified, the state's fourth-largest district, was prepared for the worker shortage. Last spring, it worked hard to hire 400 more teachers.

"We probably would have experienced the same shortages as others," said Long Beach assistant superintendent David Zaid. "But we became much more assertive7, and as a result, we are not in the same position."

Words in This Story

district — n. an area established by a government for official government business

ideal — adj. exactly right for a particular purpose, situation, or person

certified — adj. exactly right for a particular purpose, situation, or person

survey — n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something

stress — n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc.

depression — n. a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way

piece of the pie — phrase a portion of a particular amount of money

snatch — v. to take (something) quickly or eagerly

enrollment — n. a policy or process by which parents may send their children to a different public school than the one in their own community

assertive — adj. confident in behavior or style


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1 retirements 3bb205632ed35db36c39c7bbf0a15446     
退休( retirement的名词复数 ); 退职; 退役; 退休的实例
参考例句:
  • We've had two retirements in our office this year. 今年我们办公室已有二人退休。
  • Those may take the form of sackings redundancies, temporary layoffs or retirements. 这些形式有开除,作为编余人员,暂时解雇或退休。
2 certified fw5zkU     
a.经证明合格的;具有证明文件的
参考例句:
  • Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
  • The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。
3 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
4 superintendent vsTwV     
n.监督人,主管,总监;(英国)警务长
参考例句:
  • He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
  • He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。
5 unified 40b03ccf3c2da88cc503272d1de3441c     
(unify 的过去式和过去分词); 统一的; 统一标准的; 一元化的
参考例句:
  • The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
  • The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。
6 enrollment itozli     
n.注册或登记的人数;登记
参考例句:
  • You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
  • I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。
7 assertive De7yL     
adj.果断的,自信的,有冲劲的
参考例句:
  • She always speaks an assertive tone.她总是以果断的语气说话。
  • China appears to have become more assertive in the waters off its coastline over recent years.在近些年,中国显示出对远方海洋的自信。

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