03/12/2025
The True State of Our Educational Union: A Call to Hearts and Hands
I walked through a San Antonio classroom last month and saw something that broke my heart. Not just empty desks, but the exhaustion in a teacher's eyes as she tried to manage a class far larger than it should be, knowing that across the hall sits a room with no permanent teacher at all.
This is happening everywhere around us. Nearly every school district in San Antonio began this year with unfilled teaching positions. In Northside ISD alone, 84 special education teaching positions sit vacant. Behind each vacancy is a story of students waiting for the support they desperately need and teachers stretched beyond their limits.
Here's the simple, cold, hard truth- there simply aren't enough educators.
But through this harsh landscape and truth, there are beautiful moments that still renew my hope. Meet Janie Delgado, who after 27 years as a paraprofessional, finally realized her childhood dream of becoming a certified teacher through Edgewood ISD's "Grow Your Own" program. Now she teaches bilingual math, switching effortlessly between English and Spanish, to excited fifth-graders in the very school she once attended. The joy in her classroom is palpable.
I believe in my heart that City Year is part of the answer we need right now. I've seen how a City Year AmeriCorps member's presence transforms a classroom – the teacher who can finally give struggling students the attention they deserve, the child who finally has someone who notices when they're having a bad day, the high school student who sees in their City Year mentor a possible future for themselves.
This isn't just about staffing classrooms. It's about healing our educational community through human connection. Every time a City Year member serves alongside a teacher, they're not just relieving burden – they're rekindling the spark that made that teacher choose this profession in the first place.
I'm asking you – yes, you reading this right now – to join me in supporting City Year. Maybe you can donate to sponsor a member's service year. Perhaps your business can offer internships to City Year alumni considering teaching careers. Or simply share their mission with someone who might be looking for meaningful work.
I still tear up remembering what a principal told me: "When you don't have that teacher in the classroom, it has long-term effects." Those effects aren't just on test scores or academic outcomes – they're on young hearts and minds who need role models, guides, and champions.
Our children deserve better than empty classrooms and overwhelmed teachers.
This teacher shortage isn't someone else's problem to solve. It's ours – yours and mine. I'm committing today to supporting City Year's work in creating a new generation of educators through service. Will you join me? Our children are waiting for our answer.
City Year is an education nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students and schools succeed. Learn how City Year creates environments where students can thrive.
