Fredericksburg Leader

More than 600 students at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County have found themselves shifted to online learning for math and English courses due to a shortage of licensed teachers, prompting discussions about the implications for their educational experience and highlighting ongoing challenges in teacher recruitment and retention. The principal, Abe Jeffers, explained that the school has been unable to find three math and English teachers, prompting the use of an online platform supervised by a substitute teacher. 

“At Chancellor, we have over 600 of our students taking math and English courses using the Edgenuity program due to three math vacancies and English vacancies,” principal Jeffers wrote in an Aug. 24 email to a parent of a Chancellor High School student, according to The Free Lance-Star.

According to The Free Lance-Star, due to a shortage of licensed teachers, over 600 students at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County are resorting to online education through online platform Edgenuity for their math and English courses. The principal, Abe Jeffers, conveyed in an email that the school has been compelled to adopt this approach due to three vacant math and English positions. Despite filling one English position and arranging an interview for another, the school has been unable to secure any applicants for the three math positions.

Katherine Miller, a parent, shared Principal Abe Jeffers's email with The Free Lance-Star, expressing her concern about the education her daughter is receiving at Chancellor High School. Miller's daughter, a new student, found that her Algebra II teacher was absent on the first day of school, and subsequently, the class relied on recorded videos and self-teaching. Miller contacted a school counselor to switch her daughter's classes due to the difficulty she experienced in self-learning math, but was informed that all Algebra II and Statistics sections were being conducted through Edgenuity. 

According to Virginia Code section 22.1-253.13:2, schools are required to employ licensed instructional personnel in relevant subjects and maintain specific student-to-teacher ratios. However, Chancellor High School in Virginia faced significant teacher vacancies, with 16 out of 85 positions unfilled last year, and as of July 24 this year, they still had 13 out of 94 positions vacant, making it one of the 10 schools in the state with the highest teacher shortages.

Just recently, during a meeting on April 12, the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors discussed addressing the need for increased funding for public safety and school staff salaries, Free Lance-Star reported. Eventually, the board reached a consensus to proceed with their solution: implementing higher real estate, meals, and transient occupancy taxes. This decision was part of their strategy to secure the necessary funds and was accompanied by the formal approval of the fiscal year 2024 budget.