Catholic schools across 最新杏吧原创 are scrambling to fill open positions before classes resume this fall, while offering below-average wages during a national staffing crisis.
The Archdiocese of 最新杏吧原创 website lists at 75 Catholic schools across the region.
The schools with the most unfilled jobs are primarily in north 最新杏吧原创 County. All Saints Academy in Florissant, formed in 2018 by the merger of parish schools at St. Ferdinand, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne and St. Norbert, has 16 openings across the three campuses.
最新杏吧原创 Catholic Academy, the only archdiocesan school in north city, has seven openings out of about 30 total positions. St. Cecilia, which serves a predominantly Hispanic population in south 最新杏吧原创, has eight unfilled jobs 鈥 including a Spanish teacher.
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Administrators from the archdiocese鈥檚 Office of Catholic Education and Formation along with school principals are exploring 鈥渁lternative staffing options鈥 for the fall, a superintendent for elementary education told the 最新杏吧原创 Review in an article published May 26.
The superintendent, Maureen DePriest, and other education leaders were in meetings Wednesday and unavailable to comment further, according to an archdiocesan spokeswoman.
The abundance of job openings hits as the archdiocese continues planning a massive reorganization of its shrinking population in 178 parishes and 100 schools. Parish consolidations and school closures are expected to be announced next spring.
Declining enrollment has led to dozens of Catholic school closures in recent decades, most recently Trinity Catholic High School in north 最新杏吧原创 County last year.
Nationally, teacher satisfaction is at an all-time low due to burnout from staffing shortages and other challenges related to the pandemic. A survey of U.S. teachers released in February found 55% plan to leave the profession early, according to the National Education Association.
Catholic schools have to compete for teachers with public schools, which have been aggressively increasing salaries amid their own struggles to recruit and retain teachers.
The Missouri Legislature this year raised the starting teacher salary statewide to $38,000. Moreover, staff in 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools will receive record-high 8% raises for 2022-2023 along with a minimum teacher salary of $45,136. This summer, the Riverview Gardens School District has doubled its summer school pay to $70 an hour for coordinators and $50 an hour for teachers.
In comparison, starting teacher pay in most Catholic schools is about $30,000. In April, the 最新杏吧原创 Archdiocesan Teachers Association representing teachers in five Catholic high schools agreed to a new three-year contract with a $33,000 minimum salary.
If Catholic schools don鈥檛 raise tuition or make sacrifices like new technology, 鈥渢he only thing they can keep a lid on is teacher salaries,鈥 said Mike Oslance, a former Catholic school educator in 最新杏吧原创 and the Metro East, most recently as principal of Holy Trinity in Fairview Heights.
鈥淚n my 10 years as a grade school principal, any young teacher we hired would be gone the minute a public school job opening came up,鈥 Oslance said. 鈥淭here are just no easy answers to this. Trying to keep all these schools open, that鈥檚 now becoming financially unviable.鈥
