Teacher shortages: The pain, strain facing rural districts

Despite the return of students to classrooms, Socorro County school districts are still grappling with staff vacancies.

This year, Socorro Schools started the school year with 29 vacancies and Magdalena with five.

Socorro Schools

Aubrey Tucker, interim superintendent, said the Socorro School Board has given him direction to raise the bar as high as possible. With the board’s engagement and support, he feels confident that the district will achieve and surpass its goals in the future.

“We are working diligently to fill positions as soon as possible with one important caveat; the Socorro Consolidated School District will not settle for just a warm body with the proper credentials. It’s important to proceed with the vetting process to alleviate mediocre instruction, substandard performance, or simple incompetence in all educational disciplines,” Tucker said.

He said the district will continue working with their Socorro City partners and educational relationship with New Mexico Tech to find local talent and recruit the best New Mexico has to offer.

“The time to just accept what’s available must come to an end. The Socorro Consolidated School district will become more and more attractive to those that want to be a part of a progressive educational entity with a focus on student well-being and academic growth,” Tucker said.

Magdalena Schools

“Just like any other rural school district, we have our challenges when it comes to filling teaching positions here at Magdalena,” Dr. Haven, Magdalena Superintendent, said.

Haven said they try to identify vacancies as soon as possible at the end of a school year and begin the necessary steps of advertising and soliciting through various sources they have available.

“We advertise through the media and a program specifically for schools and teacher candidates to utilize when seeking employment in New Mexico. We then accept applications and start to review them to set up interviews as quickly as possible to fill our vacancies,” Haven said.

He said housing is one of the challenges most rural school districts, including Magdalena, face.

“We have applicants that want to teach here, but our barrier is and will always be affordable housing in Magdalena. We have lost a lot of candidates because of this crucial situation,” Haven said.

If they cannot fill a position, they seek a long-term substitute, or an educational aide assigned to the classroom that needs a teacher while continuing to seek someone to fill the position.