As districts throughout the state gear up for the beginning of the school year, many are still struggling to fill positions among the ranks of bus drivers, special education teachers and other support staff, such as crossing guards.

State and district officials said that filling those jobs are perennial problems for districts in Maine, but the task is a lot harder this year because of pandemic-related requirements.

While most Maine schools return to class during the last week of August, some start earlier and some begin right after Labor Day. As the days grow shorter, the urgency to fill staff positions ramps up.

In Regional School District 14, which represents the towns of Windham and Raymond, there are 20 active jobs posted on the district's website — 14 that have been posted since Aug. 1. The Auburn School Department has over 40 active openings on its website, including 16 that have been posted in the past two weeks.

RSU 14 in Windham & Raymond has 20 active job openings on its district website. (Daniel Dinsmore/Spectrum News Maine)

“I think it is the worst it’s been,” said Auburn Superintendent Cornelia Brown, who has helmed the district for two years, but served elsewhere as superintendent for 25 years.

Brown’s district, she said, is in dire need of special education teachers, along with math teachers and school psychologists. She also acknowledged that, out of a staff of nearly 700, finding additional or substitute crossing guards and bus drivers has been difficult for the past five years. 

Brown said staff members and even district administrators have had to rotate throughout the district to fill substitute teaching positions. Last fall, Brown herself taught substitute art at the high school and math at the middle school.

“In any particular day, covering all the vacancies can be very challenging,” she said.

Education officials say finding bus drivers is a problem in particular.

“It has been an issue of concern prior to the pandemic, (but) I don’t think the pandemic has helped,” said Eileen King, executive director of the Maine School Superintendents Association and deputy executive director of the Maine School Management Association.

Brown said Auburn is currently down five full-time bus drivers.

King said it’s even tougher for districts in smaller communities such as Boothbay Harbor, where she was superintendent for 16 years.

“You don’t have the population to draw from,” she said.

Sanford School Superintendent Matthew Nelson said new pandemic rules on capacity forced him to hire more bus drivers to handle an increase in the number of bus runs. Even with federal pandemic relief funding and an outside contractor helping, he said, there are still a handful of positions he needs to fill.

“That’s where we’re having a hard time,” he said.

State officials say they have tried to assist local districts in finding teacher candidates. 

The need for more teachers comes from new pandemic-related distancing requirements calling for more classes with smaller numbers of children in each. The Maine Department of Education has been able to fast-track certifications for new teachers through an order by Gov. Janet Mills in August 2020. Education department spokesperson Kelli Deveaux said the state so far has issued 300 new certifications as a result of the order.

“Prior to the pandemic there were identified school staffing needs across our state, especially a growing shortage of bus drivers and special educators,” Deveaux said. “Expanding the educator workforce has been a priority of the Department of Education, and this has included recruitment campaigns, and ongoing partnerships with higher education organizations and workforce development groups.”