OKLAHOMA CITY ( KFOR ) – Districts throughout the state are seeing significant staffing shortages when it comes to special education teachers going into the new year.
“There needs to be respect and appreciation for educators for their job. I don’t think anyone got into education to get rich. You do want to be above the poverty level, but you also want there to be respect when parents know that you have the best interests of their kids at heart,” said Superintendent of Choctaw-Nicoma Park School District David Reid.
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KFOR reached out to over two dozen districts and asked for the number of special education teacher vacancies going into the new year.
Choctaw-Nicoma reported that they have five vacancies so far that they can’t seem to fill.
“We’ve tried just about everything,” said Reid.
Other school districts include Oklahoma City Public School District who have 29 vacancies, last year they had 26 vacancies.