Laker/Lutz news reporter B.C. Manion writes on how the national teacher shortage is affecting local schools in his latest piece for the publication. The school year is starting for 300,000 local students residing in Florida’s Pasco and Hillsborough counties, but according to the public information officer for Pasco County Schools, Steve Hegarty, the district still has 355 teacher openings to fill.

“We are also short relief drivers, and there are always “call outs,” which is to say that we have a person assigned to that route, but they called in sick or had a family emergency. So the 55 number simply tells you how many open positions we have,” Hegarty said.

Read more on Laker/Lutz here.

Staff shortages persist in public schools

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