Based on projected student enrollment and staffing allocations, the Glendale Unified Board of Education has declared an urgent need for fully-qualified educators this coming 2024-25 school year.
GUSD approved a declaration of need at its May 7 meeting, which will help fast-track a process to hire emergency permit teachers through the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, once the agency approves it. This comes with the caveat that the school district will only resort to this “when qualified, capable, fully certified teachers are unavailable,” according to the board report.
“Teaching and emergency permits allow qualified individuals who have completed some or most of their credential requirements to be employed while completing the remaining requirements for their prospective credentials,” the Commission on Teacher Credentialing said on its website.
Kyle Bruich, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources, told the school board that the district’s need for these permits is primarily for teachers involved in dual language immersion programs and those teaching English language learners.
“Finding someone at a high level in some of our languages that are not as common [can be difficult],” Bruich said. “We typically find someone who may have been a resident of that country and hasn’t fully gotten their teaching credential yet and so we work with them while they are learning how to navigate a U.S.-based system, or whatever it may be.”
He also noted that this can be applicable for teachers coming to California from other states which may not require as rigorous credentials as California does.
The emergency teaching permits can be applied to the Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development Certificate, English Learner Authorization, Bilingual Authorization, Library Media Teacher Services, Clinical or Rehabilitative Services Credential and limited assignment teachers.
Bruich explained that typically GUSD relies on about 6% of its teachers being emergency permit teachers, a number that has remained steady over the last few years.
“Our continued district priority is to recruit and hire fully credentialed and qualified teachers, but where that may not be possible, this will help ensure that the district has the correct people in each position, and appropriate professional development, time and support to be successful in their jobs,” according to the board’s report.
FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN
The board also approved revisions to the district’s school day schedule to accommodate the implementation of full-day kindergarten, which will take effect in the 2024-25 school year.
Full-day kindergarten will add 31 minutes to the previous daily kindergarten schedule, resulting in a total of 47,700 instructional minutes for the year, as opposed to the previous 42,300. The school day for kindergarteners will run similarly to that of grades one through three, however, they will be released 20 minutes earlier to alleviate traffic concerns.
The plan to transition into full-day kindergarten has been underway for more than a year, with the goal of enhancing the educational experience for the younger age group. As noted by district officials in several meetings, about 80% of California school districts offer full-day kindergarten, and GUSD wants to provide its students with the same amount of learning time.
In a previous January board meeting, Brook Reynolds, the executive director of elementary instruction, touched on the benefits of full-day kindergarten, including its ability to foster stronger bonds between teachers and students and the impact it has on children’s ability to retain information better.
“Research shows that when we have a full-day kindergarten experience, we have fewer students who are showing learning loss or having struggles later on because they had that strong foundation,” Reynolds said.
First published in the May 18 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
