Schools across Loudoun County are dealing with teacher shortages. Potomac Falls currently has 11 vacancies. 

According to an article published in the Loudoun Times Mirror in August, Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) has 7,000 full time teachers and an additional 9,000 full and part-time employees. There were 212 vacancies going into the school year across the county. 

At Potomac Falls, there are currently 11 vacancies. “Right now the vacancies are shared between special education, science and math, but the largest impact is on our special education teachers,” said principal Dr. Brandon Wolfe. 

According to an article published by ABC News 7,  people feel like the Loudoun County School Board (LCSB) isn’t listening to special education educators. LCPS has proposed cutting eight special education positions in each school. 

According to Wolfe, teachers are having to have a higher number of students in each of their classes. The maximum class size for LCPS high schools is 32, whereas middle and elementary schools are 25-30 according to an LCPS document. However, PFHS has been able to support students despite these shortages. “There is not really an impact on kids because we are able to kind of give teachers a heavier workload and spread it out a little bit,” said Wolfe. “It’s just the teachers are having to do more work and they have a higher number of kids they have to work with.”

LCPS is trying their best to deal with the teacher shortages in the best way possible. According to Wolfe, schools work together to recruit teachers by asking them to come to a school with more vacancies. If there are more vacancies at one school compared to another, the new applicant will go to the school that needs more help. “We’re just continuing to recruit, I work with Loudoun County and have a whole recruitment division,” said Wolfe. 

To fill the vacancies, about 20 more elementary school teaching assistants will be hired and the school division will increase long-term substitute daily pay from $154 to $200 according to the Loudoun Times. “With the hope that will entice more long term subs to help with the teacher shortages in the country,” said LCPS Chief Financial Officer Sharon Willoughby. 

Board member Denise Corbo, At-Large, acknowledged the shortage is a national problem, but said it’s critical to have as many licensed teachers in elementary schools as possible. According to Axios, there are tens of thousands of teacher vacancies in the United States and more than 160,000 jobs are filled by under-qualified teachers. The shortages are most dire in the South and Southwest. 

The combination of the aftermath of Covid impacting employment rates and motivation in students has likely impacted the decrease in teacher employment. The teacher shortages could also be caused by people realizing they can make money by staying home with a remote job. “The job of teaching is now less appealing,” said Wolfe.