Teacher Shortage Hits Chatham Schools, Substitutes Needed

CHATHAM, NJ — Chatham school officials have issued a plea for additional paraprofessionals and substitute teachers as work to prepare for the upcoming school year continues.

The School District of the Chathams is currently grappling with an educational staff shortage, as it works to fill various teaching vacancies in the district.

The ongoing teacher shortage is a nationwide issue, with roughly 300,000 educators leaving their jobs between Feb. 2020 and May 2022, according to August 2022 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reported by the Wall Street Journal.

To combat this within Chatham, the district will hold an open house on Aug. 10 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Board of Education building (259 Lafayette Avenue) for anyone interested in becoming a paraprofessional or substitute for the 2023-2024 school year.

Attendees will be able to meet with members of the school district's Human Resources team and will be interviewed for open positions immediately following the event.

At the high school, middle school, and elementary levels, the District has several part-time paraprofessional and substitute job openings. Students who have recently graduated from college are also encouraged to apply.

The School District of the Chathams has been publicly confronted with a continuing decline in both teachers and paraprofessionals within the district for several months and has been looking for ways to attract new employees.

According to the board, one benefit of the approved referendum was to assist the district in retaining teachers and paraprofessionals who are currently leaving to teach in other school districts.

Bradley Smith, chair of the board's finance/facilities committee, said that one of the few things that would help keep staff within the district is more money.

Caryn Badian, a speech pathologist at the Lafayette School, spoke out at the beginning of this year, expressing her frustrations about how the teacher shortage is affecting teachers in the district.

"We know the lack of qualified substitutes has been an issue discussed at most board meetings since the start of the pandemic…We want to acknowledge the immense toll this has taken on staff. While everyone claims we have 'returned to normal,' clearly normal has taken on a new definition," Badian said.

"We are constantly changing schedules, last minute notice to cover classes and expected to continue to achieve at the highest level. We continue to make our students our priority, but please know this is not easy to accomplish from an educational and psychological perspective," Badian added.

The vacancies will be most critical to fill during the upcoming fall semester of school. Currently, substitute teachers in the School District of the Chathams are able to earn as much as $120 per day over the course of the school year.

Substitute paraprofessionals can earn up to $17 an hour and substitute nurses can make around $200 per day, according to the district.

Applicants who want to work for the district but are unable to attend the Open House event should apply online here.

Potential applicants with questions may contact Beth Grant, Chief Human Resources Officer, via email at bgrant@chatham-nj.org.