The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap Mapping Her Territory: Patricia Bolaños, who was hired this fall to teach world history and geography at Willow Glen High School, is among 19 new teachers at the high school and 238 in the San Jose Unified School District. Willow Glen High School gets fair share of 238 teachers hired this fall by SJUSD Of 19 new faculty, five have emergency teacher credentials By Cecily Barnes Twenty kids per classroom, more math, science and art, and a lucrative new retirement package for aging teachers has forced the San Jose Unified School District to hire a record number of new teachers this year. Of an 1,800-member teaching staff, 238 are new hires, and with 19 new teachers, Willow Glen High School is second only to Gunderson High School in the number of fresh faces among its faculty. "We had 13 teachers retire; there was an incentive package with the board of education that caused a lot of openings," said Willow Glen High School principal Patrick Day. "We had one younger person who got into medical school, and another teacher who fell in love and went with him. And another teacher who fell in love also moved." Regardless of retirements, the high school would still be on the lookout for new foreign language, math and science teachers, since the board of trustees voted in February to increase the district's graduation requirements in these subjects. Add to that increased enrollment, and watch a teacher shortage crisis emerge. "Definitely there is a crisis in California for teachers, especially in finding qualified and experienced teachers," said San Jose Unified spokeswoman Maureen Munroe. "We've been recruiting internationally, all over the United States as well as Mexico." And unable to fill every slot easily, schools throughout the state, including Willow Glen High School, have been forced to hire people lacking teaching credentials, which are earned after a fifth year of college and time spent assisting a veteran teacher. Instead, Willow Glen hired five teachers working on emergency credentials, generally meaning they have earned a bachelor's degree, passed a state teacher's exam and are earning their credentials. However, at Willow Glen, two of the new teachers hold credentials from other states and just need to get specially tailored California credentials. District-wide, 219 of SJUSD's 1,800 teachers have emergency credentials, Munroe said. "I'd rather hire a great person with a credential than a great person without a credential, but finishing a credential program is no guarantee that a teacher is going to be great," principal Day said. "A person who hasn't completed that credential yet can still be an outstanding teacher and give students an outstanding opportunity for an education. I've seen it too many times." The overwhelming task of training the high school's 19 new teachers was also lessened, Day said, by grant money earmarked for new-teacher training. "We have an Annenberg grant, and we wrote in for our department chairpeople to have one period each day to help the new teachers," Day said. "We have people to support these new teachers; we have wonderful people." Parents have faith that Day and his faculty will do a sufficient job of bringing new teachers up to speed. And hiring teachers with emergency credentials is better than not hiring anyone, parents say. "I'd rather have teachers with emergency credentials teaching than [have] larger class sizes," WGHS PTA president Steve Watkins said. "I have two children at the school, so I'm concerned that they get the best education they can. I also understand the situation that Californians have found themselves in." To help remedy the teacher shortage, the district has arranged to have SJSU and SCU students come directly into teacher training programs that will feed into job openings in the district. "We're preparing teachers the way that we want them," Munroe said. "We're also growing our own teachers by assisting some of our teacher aides to go through college for their teacher training. We are taking every measure that we know to develop good teachers in readiness for our classrooms." Brand-new teachers bring with them other added benefits. According to Day, they come into their jobs with fresh ambition and enthusiasm. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, September 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.