With the nation-wide shortage of teachers looming over Eagle Valley High School, teachers and students alike begin to feel the pressure. For the last few years the school has had trouble obtaining new teachers, and keeping veteran teachers. At the moment it is not entirely clear how the shortage will effect the community moving forward, however the english department is expected to take a heavy hit.

“The English department will look very different next year,” says english teacher Andrew Wheeler, “We’re gonna see a lot of turnover in the English departments and unfortunately, I think we’re having a hard time.”

Teachers and administrators are concerned about how this will affect students. Less teachers leads to more students per class, lower quality of education, and more stress overall.

“They’re not going to have the skill sets they need to thrive when they leave school,” says history teacher Douglas Little, “We’re seeing it in our reading scores, we’re seeing our math scores, we’re seeing it in behaviors.”

Another adverse affect of the shortage is the school administration having to accept people into teacher positions that they normally would not accept. This leads to teachers coming to the school from other countries, or even underqualified. Students will not be able to thrive to their fullest potential with teachers who are unprepared for the intense learning environment.

Ultimately students are held back as exceptions are made.

“[Y]ou want your teachers to go through teacher preparation programs, you want your teachers to have time to develop their classroom management styles and time to develop their lesson plans and stuff,” says Mr. Little, “And that’s just not going to happen.”

In coming years, the teacher shortage is predicted to become worse until there is a serious change made to the system.