Teacher Shortages Growing Across The Country.

The AP (9/14, Armario and Leff) reports Sierra Sands Unified school district in California began the school year with four substitute teachers teaching classes because of four remaining vacancies. The district’s human resources department worked hard over the summer to recruit new teachers, but still managed to come up short. The small district’s problems are part of a growing national trend of teacher shortages. In some places, the shortage is confined to a small district, but there are also shortages in large cities like Las Vegas and whole states like Georgia and North Dakota. Some experts say the recession created the shortage because budget cuts and layoffs made the field unattractive, while others say a failure to retain teachers is to blame.         Oregon School District Recruiting People With Professional Science Experience To Become Science Teachers. The AP (9/12, Hart) reports Umatilla School District has begun recruiting people from other professions to become teachers in order to address the teacher shortage there. The district recruited two new science teachers, who used science in their previous careers, to enroll in master’s degree programs in education while they teach. The “alternative route licenses” allow people with bachelors’ degrees in science to start teaching while they complete a master’s in education program.