The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated teacher shortages across public schools in the United States, forcing some to go back to remote learning. Teacher shortages and difficulties filling job openings have been reported in Tennessee, New Jersey, and South Dakota, which saw one district begin the school year with 120 teacher vacancies. Meanwhile in Texas, Houston, Waco, and a number of other districts saw hundreds of teaching vacancies unfilled at the start of the year. In one California school district, staff are reportedly sending flyers home in students’ lunch boxes to let parents now they are “now hiring.” The shortage comes amid a spike in retirements and resignations of teachers prompted by the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Added to this, schools are already under pressure to hire tutors to make up for lost learning time, while more positions need to be filled to run online learning classes for those who are not ready to return. …