A teacher shortage in Brockton Public Schools has high school students spending time in the cafeteria instead of the classroom.
Students said they are sent to the cafeteria every time there is no substitute for a teacher who is absent -- and it is happening more frequently.
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“I didn’t go to school to waste 55 minutes in the cafeteria doing nothing,” freshman Sophia Teixeira said.
Teixiera said she finds herself being sent to the cafeteria for one class a day. Her mom worries about the impact on her education.
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“If she’s going to school to sit in the cafeteria or the gym, she might as well stay home,” parent Ellie Teixeira said.
At a recent school committee meeting, officials said roughly two dozen teachers are out at the high school each day. According to the district’s job website, they have 74 openings for certified teachers.
“I think the situation is very dire,” school committee member Cynthia Mendes Rivas said.
Mendes Rivas said the district gave pink slips to too many teachers last year because they did not have the funding, but resignations and retirements came after that. Now that they are able to hire, it is extremely slow.
“Usually you try to hire before September in education," Mendes Rivas said. "If you try to hire in November, it becomes so much more difficult."
Mendes Rivas said the process is even more complicated due to the recent discovery of the district’s $14 million deficit. She said every time they hire someone, it now takes longer to approve and it’s the students who are left waiting.
“Budget is one thing," she said, "but what’s being impacted right now, what students are really feeling, is not having teachers in front of them."
