Over 440,000 teaching positions are now filled by unqualified staff or sitting empty. Deanna Gilmore, Ph.D., says the only way to fix it is to make people fall in love with teaching again — and to pressure lawmakers to fund salaries that keep them there. A 26-year classroom veteran, former school principal, and university professor who trained the next generation of educators, Gilmore wrote There’s a Pig on the Playground: Memorable Stories from the Schoolyard to do exactly that — sharing firsthand stories from teachers, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and coaches to remind America what’s at stake before it’s too late.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS:
- With nearly half a million teaching positions unfilled, what happens to America’s public schools?
- What concrete steps can communities and lawmakers take right now to stop the bleeding?
- How are school voucher programs making the teacher shortage even worse?
CONTACT: Deanna Gilmore: (208) 285-7567; dgilmore@rtirguests.com