ABC57 News in South Bend, Ind. covers all of Michiana including St. Joseph, Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaPorte and Marshall counties in Indiana and Berrien, Cass, Van Buren and St. Joseph counties in Mich.
To help fill the gap, the Michigan Department of Education sent emails in April to more than 30,000 former educators. Come back to the classroom, State Superintendent Michael Rice pleaded, and Michigan will waive the requirement of 150 hours of training to be recertified to teach in classrooms.
“To paraphrase an old Motown song,” Rice cajoled, “We want you back. We welcome you back.”
The response has been overwhelming. In three weeks, more than 1,200 former educators expressed interest the equivalent of about two teachers for every traditional public school district in the state.
While not all those former teachers are likely to end up back in classrooms, the program, called “Welcome Back Proud Michigan Educators,” is expected to help stave off a growing emergency in Michigan schools until longer-term efforts are developed to attract more teachers.