How one school district is coping with its teacher shortage: A month of early dismissals

Beginning Monday, thousands of students in the Millville, N.J., school district will go home early. Faced with a severe teacher shortage, the district plans to operate on a shortened school day.

When the fifth-period bell rang at Lakeside Middle School in Millville, about 80 students filed into the auditorium – not for an assembly, but for class.

Faced with a shortage of teachers and not enough available substitutes, the Cumberland County school has been sending students to the spacious auditorium when there was no one to cover their classrooms.

Similar scenes have played out across town at Millville High School, where, for several months, classes have been held for certain periods in the gym. Sometimes, there would be hundreds of students from eight or nine classes with two or three teachers present.

“Every day, this was happening,” said Superintendent Tony Trongone. “We have to do something different.”

Read more from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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