So, I was Contacted by a Couple of Buna ISD Parents About This

 I think I am back. Took a while to get my new computer up, me somewhat well. 

It was in truth, good to not to worry about people griping at me about something I wrote. 

So, allegedly, there was a core subject teacher hired and they did not have a certificate as of yet in their subject. 

Now, in the " District of Innovation" structure in which people without certificates can be hired in an attempt to help the teacher shortage... I am not shocked. 

That said, there are still parents who want their kids to go to college and earn a bachelor's degree, at least a bachelors. 

I know now there is a push for people to go into the trades because, well, we are short electricians, plumbers, HVAC, carpenters, etc in this country. Kids are not going into those fields, partly because a lot of kids are pretty lazy, and there was a push in the 1970s onward for high school age kids to attend college. 

I remember in the 1970s, it was hard to get in a number of the trade / vocational programs. Some had an abundance of workers, others want to keep their numbers low, to keep their wages high. ( Most of you don't remember those days, heck in the 1970s, you could not even buy a job at a refinery.)

Well, we are now to the point, the opposite is occurring, we need plumbers, butchers, carpenters, people with CDL's, auto-techs,etc. And high schools need to be set up to train kids who want to do this.....

We also need to prep kids who want to go to college. And not everyone in high school who thinks they will never go to college, won't eventually wind up going. And I taught everyone so if they decide later in life they want to go, they are prepared. ( Spoke to a ex-student who was working in a trade decided they needed a degree. They wound up getting 3. And they thanked me for prepping for what they didn't think they would ever do.)

So, Mr. Thomas, Kerry, Kerry Don, The Ole Govteach, what is this blog about?

I really think the 4 Core Subjects( Math, Science, English, Social Studies or History as I call SS) need certificates. And my understanding is there was an applicant who had a certificate in which the present employee, with no certificate was hired over. 

Certificates show you have taken enough university classes in the subject, and passed a test in the subject to show you know enough of the topic to teach it. ( I know Buna has had people in the past who had a difficult time passing the Social Studies Exam, but politics kept them in their job. )

And it's not illegal or against the rules to have a Core Subject teacher without a certificate. ( My understanding, according to the rules,they're supposed to be working on one.) 

But I wonder, if things like this are going to get worse before they get better?

And if I was a parent, I would be concerned too. I'd want my kid's teachers to be certified in the subject they are teaching.