Students at a Chicago high school were left without a teacher for several weeks, a problem stemming from a teacher shortage and chronic absences in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), according to a report.
Roberto Clemente Community Academy (RCCA), a high school located in Humboldt Park and West Town, is plagued by staffing problems, the Chicago Block Club reported.
The staffing crisis at the high school is reportedly being blamed on a larger problem. Teachers told the Chicago Block Club that Clemente's problems are “exacerbated by the administrators' approach to management and leadership.”
RCCA is an institution that has greatly served Puerto Rican families since the mid-1970s.
“According to CPS data, about 46 percent of the teaching staff had more than 10 absences in 2023. That means nearly half of Clemente's teachers missed the equivalent of at least two weeks of school,” the outlet reported.
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Students were left without a teacher for a week, a problem stemming from a teacher shortage in Chicago Public Schools, according to a report. (iStock)
The outlet further reported: “Clemente is a symbol of a broader problem: CPS schools, and many other public schools across the country, are crippled by funding constraints and a nationwide teacher shortage, education experts said.
The outlet further reported that CPS officials “insist that Clemente does not have any staffing issues.”
Fox News Digital previously reported on the challenges of recruiting teachers across the country. In Arizona, in particular, nearly a quarter of teaching positions are consistently vacant.
Districts across the country are shortening school weeks and consolidating classrooms due to teacher shortages.
Like Illinois and Arizona, other states where more than half of their school districts are struggling to fill school vacancies include Nevada, Florida and Michigan.
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Students were left without a teacher for a week, a problem stemming from a teacher shortage in Chicago Public Schools, according to a report. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
School districts across the country are hiring international staff to help with teacher shortages.
“They forgot about us,” she heard fellow RCCA student Carolina Carchi say. Her classmates were “getting more and more restless” and “sitting in their classroom with not much to do,” the outlet reported.
The statement from Carchi's classmate motivated her to step forward and teach chemistry.
“When I heard that, a spark and a passion grew inside me,” Carchi told the outlet.
Students were told that there would be a permanent teacher assigned to the classroom, but the teacher never showed up. In addition, they were assigned a substitute teacher, but the teacher did not know how to teach chemistry.
Like Illinois and Arizona, other states where more than half of their school districts are struggling to fill school vacancies include Nevada, Florida and Michigan. (Getty Images)
Carchi reportedly said to herself: “No, they are not going to leave you out, they have not forgotten about you and I will be here to prove it to you.”
The 15-year-old tutored her classmates for two months during the winter of her sophomore year.
The course was not assigned a permanent professor until the following fall, the outlet reported.
“Clemente students are missing out on critical instruction because many teachers are regularly absent and positions go vacant for long periods,” the Chicago Block Club reported.
“As they deal with the stress of working with students with significant needs, teachers say they are not receiving support from their school principal, which has left them exhausted and demoralized — and often absent,” the outlet noted.
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CPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
