Teacher Pay

The Collier County Public School District is seeing a critical teacher shortage with just two weeks left for teachers to report to school. The district has about 100 instructional positions open out of a total of 274 employment positions listed on their website at the start of the week. President of the Teacher’s Association of Lee County Kevin Daly said he sees the issue in Lee County too. He said the scarcity issue will cause more stress on teachers because they will have to cover more classes, missing planning periods. According to the Florida Department of Education, the shortage represents many teachers who are not certified in the fields they are hired to teach. The Department also says postsecondary institutions are not producing enough graduates to meet demand.

State health officials reported 7,925 COVID-19 cases, Wednesday, for a total of 905,248 cases. The Florida Department of Health also reported 87 new coronavirus-related deaths, Nov. 18, increasing the statewide death toll to 17,949 fatalities.Over the past seven days, the single-day average number of new infections reported has increased to nearly 6,735 cases. The average number of daily deaths reported over the past week now stands at nearly 56 fatalities a day.

On Monday, the Collier County Public School Board approved a collective bargaining agreement with the Collier County Education Association that includes…