DES MOINES, Iowa — Central Iowa is seeing a steady decrease in people pursuing and achieving a teaching degree.
That’s according to leaders at Des Moines Public Schools. This is a busy time of the year for school staff, as they will lose anywhere from 200 to 250 educators come May for various reasons.
At the same time, they are serving increasingly growing classrooms with more and more diverse students.
At school drop-offs like the one at Brody Middle School, parents are handing off their kids to staff. In fact, the kids may spend more time with the staff than their own families.
"I love the fist bumps, the high fives, to see the joy and then make that connection every morning is so fun," said Sarah Kelly, an instructional coach at Brody.
In each Brody classroom, teachers have increasing responsibilities. They guide students through each lesson, navigating technology as a classroom staple. Kelly, for example, left a job in finance because she felt a calling to work in education.
"'You need to be that teacher that you needed,'" she recalled her parents telling her. "Because I struggled with a lot of the teachers growing up that didn't want to challenge me or had challenges challenging me. You need to be the teacher for the kids who want to find a different answer."
Kelly and her husband were living in Tennessee at the time. Her husband also supports her.
“He goes, ‘No, you need to come to Iowa.’ Because he's from here, and he knows our schools, like need someone who cares, like you. And so we made the 700-mile move. And I student-taught in Mitchellville and got my first position in DMPS, and have loved every minute of being in Des Moines Public Schools.”
She finds joy in showing students that they have someone who’s in their corner.
"It has been so rewarding to just become part of 700 lives every year. This is my first year outside of the classroom as an instructional coach, and I instead of 120 kids a year I get 700 of them," Kelly told Local 5. "And anytime that I feel like I'm not feeling the mood of sitting in an office, looking at data or preparing for the next professional development, I can walk into a classroom and learn with them, and help them out and just become kind of their buddy who's helping the other teachers and they just see it as someone coming in to help out."
For her, it’s more than teaching.
"I don't know how many times I've been called 'mom'! The current eighth graders here at Brody were my last students in the classroom, seventh graders last year, and they are my kids."
And when a student may be having a tough day, that’s where she finds more purpose in encouraging them.
"We become that one that pushes through and helps them walk a little taller. When I see the kid who would come in, you know, hunched over upset. Then a week later, after hanging out or talking to them every day, things like that. They come in with their shoulders back and a smile on their face, you kind of went, 'Okay, for right now, we're good.' And it becomes something that we can hold on to and cherish."
While her energy is contagious, school staff tell me that passion is in a shortage.
It’s an issue that Theron Hobbs, DMPS coordinator of recruitment and retention, says keeps him up at night.
"It is a teacher crisis. Yes, an educational crisis. I think people don't have a full scope of how big of a task it is," he said. "There's the massive teacher shortage of people who are graduating, but there are people who are already in schools who are passionate about wanting to become teachers, but they can't afford it. And that’s frustrating."
The cost to earn a teaching degree, and the lack of teacher pay, are part of the uphill battles educators face.
Hobbs also says data shows most people will tend to be teachers in their hometown. He says student-teaching in DMPS or DMPS graduates will hopefully lead to a teaching degree.
"That's the only way we can ensure that we can always fill in these vacancies," he said.
Right now, the school district needs to fill around 20 positions. In May, that number jumps from 200 to 250, a cyclical trend of contracts ending, educators retiring or teachers deciding not to teach anymore.
"Our current teachers are going to have too many students that are being asked to serve, that's going to create a burnout for them," Hobbs added.
Hobbs says it's not just in Iowa, but a nationwide problem. DMPS leadership is trying to get innovative rallying support from both the government and private funding.
Hobbs also says the children they serve are becoming more diverse, many speaking different languages, and that providing kids with educators who look like them and understand their cultural backgrounds is critical.
This is where the district's Grow Your Own program is looking making a difference.
Claudia Steele, who is from El Salvador, is earning her education through it. She fled the country's civil war decades ago, and has made Iowa home.
Like Kelly, she’s passionate about her students.
"I love teaching them," she said. “I like to build a relationship with them with their families. I love it when they don't get it. They come to me and they tell me ‘Could you explain it to me? Could you spend time with me and teach me?'"
She, like Hobbs, also believes our society needs to recognize that the American education system needs help.
"We have to see it as a collective responsibility and have to see it as this is how we could truly show love for our students is making sure that they have the best education and the best educators and as many educators as possible," Steele said.
Hobbs says for people pursuing their initial teaching degree license, there's what's called "3D": a partnership between Des Moines Public Schools, Des Moines Area Community College and Drake University.
The district is also developing a new pathway program at Grand View University for positions in special education.
Hobbs believes it will take policymakers, philanthropists and business owners investing in schools to turn the crisis around.