News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Pickett County School Board considered options Monday night for filling an open math teacher position at Pickett County High School.
Director of Schools Diane Elder said the position opened after a teacher walked out and never showed up again. Pickett County High School Principal Mitch Buckman said the absence impacts learning.
“We’ve got kids that are not being taught math,” Buckman said. “We are trying to find a way to work around it. It’s unacceptable, we’ve got kids that are not taking any math at all. You can’t expect a sub to come in and teach a class that a teacher has been teaching.”
Elder said the school system has advertised the position but the only promising applicants are students from Tennessee Tech who are set to graduate in December. Elder said the school system is even looking within to temporarily solve the issue.
“We are trying to meet with our teachers at the high school to try to come up with a solution to the problem,” Elder said. “And see what we can work out for the remainder of the year.”
Elder said the school system will continue to fill the role with a substitute teacher until a teacher is hired. Elder said finding a math teacher in the middle of the school year has been challenging, to say the least.
“Trying to find an algebra two teacher is like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Elder said. “There is just not that many around.”
Elder said they approached another math teacher at the high school about teaching the class until the position is filled but logistics were not going to allow that to work. Elder said legally they can hold the teacher for 30 days but the teacher has since taken on another job which would make things difficult.
