Last year, agriculture teacher Allyson Gillmore left her position to pursue an offer at another school. As a result, the club she was sponsoring, Future Farmers of America, could no longer continue without her sponsorship. 

This left many participants in the club like junior Ingrid Loney, without an agriculture program. 

“With budget cuts our teacher was offered a better position in a different school,” Loney said. “She left, which sucked because then the program got cut and I was no longer able to have that opportunity here.”

Although the loss of FFA sponsor Gilmore affected many students, it was only one of the numerous programs that have experienced staffing issues. During the year, over three teachers have left the school.

Principal Amy McAnarney claimed teachers are leaving for many reasons, saying that some are going into the private sector to earn more money than their current teaching jobs.

“We have typical reasons like retirement, then we also have teachers who maybe move to another district to continue teaching, then last of all we have teachers who leave and are going to the private sector, they’re getting out of education, and they’re going into the private sector because often times they can earn more money doing something else,” Mcanarney said.

Also according to McAnarney, it is harder to find teachers in certain subjects mostly because they are being offered a higher position in a different job.

“[It] depends on the content area,” McAnarney said. “Sometimes it’s harder to find science and math teachers because they can make more money in the private sector in the fields of science and math.”

With the struggles of filling availability for certain teaching roles, students are left without certain opportunities, programs and clubs, and this problem is likely to continue next year.

“It’s likely to be a continuing problem,” McAnarney said. “There’s not as many young people going into the field of education to be teachers. The primary reason for that is they can earn more money at other professions.”