VIDALIA — Despite hiring six teachers Thursday night, the Concordia Parish School District is still down 17 staff members, the majority of missing staff being certified teachers.

Interim Superintendent Loretta Blankenstein said typically the district averages approximately 13 unfilled positions by this time of June.

“It’s a little higher than normal,” she said. “But it’s a problem all school systems around the country are facing because fewer people are going into education. There just aren’t as many teacher candidates available.”

Math, science and foreign language instructors can be particularly tough to hire, she said. Though the district hired two math teachers this past week, it is still a concern, Blankenstein said.

Monterey High School, Vidalia High School and Ferriday Junior High School all need math teachers, while science teachers are needed at Vidalia High School and Ferriday High School.

Thanks to the district’s relationship with Teach for America, this year Blankenstein said district leaders are only looking for one Spanish teacher at Ferriday High School. Blankenstein said the district recently hired one for Vidalia.

“Summer time always creates a lot of changes,” she said. “Some aren’t able to let us know until summer what they are going to do, so we are always looking for more teachers than estimated.”

A limited teacher pool also means the area’s districts are having to push harder amongst each other for staff.

“In the Miss-Lou, we are all competing for the same teachers,” she said. “I don’t want to lose any good teachers. Anytime we do, it is a concern.”

Three teachers have left to teach at Delta Charter School, and a fourth will interview there. One teacher took a job in the Natchez-Adams School District.

Blankenstein said it also works in reverse, and in her opinion, Concordia Parish is the best place to work.

“I worked my entire teaching, educational career in Concordia Parish,” she said. “While no place is perfect, I think we have the best group of students, parents and staff who are all willing to work together to make this a great place for children to learn.”

School board member Ricky Raven said he believes having competition for teachers in the Miss-Lou is ultimately a good thing. Raven said Blankenstein inherited a shaky situation from the previous superintendent, but he also said she was righting the ship.

“I believe if you have things running smoothly, things are run above board and morale is kept up, I don’t think people leave just because another system is there,” Raven said. “As long as we take care of people, provide good pay, I believe people will come to us.”

School board President Raymond T. Riley said he doesn’t when schools such as Delta Charter recruits the parish’s best teachers and students.

“We are losing students and teachers, and we need to find a way to put a stop to that,” he said. “We need to find some certified teachers.”

Having trouble filling staff positions won’t be a long-term problem, said school board member Ronnie Bradford.

“Our job is to move forward and make our schools a positive place to work at,” he said. “With good leadership by our superintendent and direction from the board, we are definitely moving in a positive direction.”