Five Tucson Unified 'D' schools struggle to fill teaching jobs

Five of nine Tucson Unified School District “D” rated schools have empty teaching positions the district is struggling to fill.

The vacancies directly affect Arizona Academic Skills Assessment-tested grade levels of 3 through 8. The test scores help determine a school's rating.

The state education department uses letter grades as an accountability model for school performance. Parameters are year-to-year student academic growth and proficiency in core subjects and college and career readiness. Schools receiving "D" or "F" ratings (TUSD has no "failing" schools) must formulate plans to get to a grade "C" or above.

There are eight positions left unfilled at Cavett Elementary School, Erickson Elementary School, Hollinger K-8 School, Palo Verde High Magnet School and Pueblo Gardens PreK-8 School. They leave voids in all tested grade levels for the state skills assessment.

In the meantime, these slots have been filled by substitute teachers. The classrooms do not necessarily have the same substitute every day.

“We want to make sure we have our own certified teachers from TUSD in these positions. But we also know that for these schools to really hit their targets and goals under school improvement, not having substitutes that change on a daily basis, or even someone who's not committed to the classroom on a regular basis is not in the best interest of those schools,” said TUSD Governing Board President Ravi Shah.

District officials have said the unfilled positions stem from a subpar applicant pool, compounded by the nationwide teacher shortage.

“We’re concerned,” said TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo. “We've made a lot of attempts to try to secure permanent coverage, really to no success.”

On Tuesday TUSD's Governing Board approved a proposal to pay Maxim Staffing Services to help find contract teachers who will start the first day of the spring 2024 semester and stay on for the remainder of the school year.

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Filling the positions through Maxim will cost the district $313,200.

The board voted Tuesday to up its existing contract with Maxim from $2.5 million to a $3 million cap. Much of those contract funds are used to help fill positions in the district’s exceptional (special) education department.

Three of the eight open positions are at Hollinger. The three full-time positions, total, are budgeted at $177,970 salary and employee-related expenses or ERE.

Cavett has one full-time position open. It is budgeted for $49,140 in salary and ERE. Erickson also has one position open, budgeted for $53,690 in salary and ERE. Pueblo Gardens’ single opening is budgeted for $51,090.

According to district officials, “We continue to accept applications through our normal process, but there is simply a lack of qualified applicants at this time.”

The other TUSD schools with "D" grades are: Booth-Fickett Magnet, Grijalva Elementary, Pistor Middle and Secrist Middle, making a total of nine TUSD schools given that designation. These do not have any vacant certified teaching positions needing to be filled this school year.

Overall, 26 TUSD schools hold "C" grades while 35 have "B" grades and 13 earned "A" ratings.