Oakland schools nearly closes teacher hiring gap by schools' start

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Oakland Unified School District welcomed its students back to class Monday, as well as several newly-hired teachers.

The district was short 70 teachers last week and now it has 12 open positions for educators.

Wanda Reynolds, one of the district's recent hires, was named New Jersey Teach of the Year. In May, while contemplating a move, Oakland caught her attention.

"The people, the school, the history here. Oakland is entrenched in African American history and so many movements. Power movements have been made in this community, how could I not love it?" Reynold's said.

Alliance Academy in East Oakland jumped at the opportunity to hire someone like Reynolds, a seasoned English teacher committed to working in underserved communities.

Last year, Alliance Academy faced a harsh reality, only nine percent of students were reading at or above grade level.

Finding teachers willing to come and invest in Alliance has been a challenge, especially with a teacher shortage.

"Other schools were looking for teachers and what would happen is if there was a school that had a more solid history, the teachers were able to make a choice and so of course, they would choose the school they felt was more secure," said Stacey Wyatt, the school's principal.

Reynolds is seen as a rising star in the school.

The teacher shortage was due to baby boomers retiring. Years of handing out pink clips during the great recession also discouraged many from going into teaching. That's changing.

"We just increased pay for our teachers so we are competitive in terms of salary, as well as still offering the best benefits in the region and we're starting our recruitment early," said Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Antwan Wilson.

Oakland says the search for more teachers in key positions continues.