The Nest is Full: All JHS Positions Are Filled This Year

For the first time in recent years, Jordan is 100% staffed with certified teachers. Ms. Taylor calls the no teacher vacancy situation uncommon, yet highly desirable citing more stability in the classrooms. This stability, she says, ensures positive outcomes for students.

“Students might see a substitute and keep walking,” Ms. Taylor said. “So we have to get our students to realize that when they apply to college that grade on their transcript, the college is not going to care if there’s a substitute or not. We need our kids to take it seriously. They take it more seriously when there’s a teacher.”

Jordan’s staffing success mirrors a district trend. Going into the 26-27 school year, DPS only had 58 teaching vacancies, according to Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis in a report by TV station ABC 11. Recent pay raises at the state level (8% average) is

cited as a reason by school officials for the lower vacancy rate. This is buoyed at JHS by many international teachers, such as 25-year veteran Mr. Cunningham, who came to work at the school, and assistant principals recruiting staff to “seal the deal,” as Ms. Taylor put it.

Jordan also retained staff by having student interns who wanted to come back and work at Jordan. Ms. Lucas is one of three such teachers. For her, coming back as a full-fledged teacher was a no-brainer.

“I love Jordan,” Ms. Lucas said. “I think that the students at Jordan are really cool because there’s such a range of different personalities, and people come from such different parts of the world, and socioeconomic status, and racial groups, and just personalities, and I guess types of people.”

For some new teachers, the smaller number of job openings made it a little harder for some to get a teaching position. First-year teacher Mr. Froning, who teaches both physical science and honors chemistry, said, “There were a good number of available positions but I think there were also a large number of applicants. So I was applying for jobs over the whole summer, and I did not get this job until pretty late in the summer.”