All physics, honors physics and Spanish 2 students are learning their curriculum online, instead of from a certificated content teacher due to the school’s inability to hire new teachers for the 2018-19 school year.

The PHS administration has not filled teaching positions for a 1.0 physics position, a 1.2 Spanish position, and a 0.4 special education position.

“We all want credentialed teachers in front of students. I do not believe that online learning replaces a credentialed teacher,” superintendent Randall Booker said. “Online learning is a tool, and it can be used for supplemental support, but it doesn’t replace having a qualified expert teacher in front of you.”

Before the switch to online learning, substitute teachers were filling the open Spanish classes and five out of the seven honors physics classes, while the remaining two honors physics classes were taught by physics teacher Dorota Sawicka.

“I had an interview on Aug. 10 and principal Littlefield called me the morning of Aug. 11 and he offered me the [full-time] position,” Sawicka said. “But I felt like I could not accept the full time position because of my time conflict.”

Sawicka said that she was hired on Aug. 13, and then she came in the next day for the start of school and met her students.

“We knew [former physics teacher Glen] Melnik was retiring,” Littlefield said. “So we probably put [the job opening] out in March, which is a typical time for posting those positions.”

The school posted the opening on EDJOIN, a free recruitment platform for teachers, and received about 500 applicants, Littlefield said.

However, Littlefield said that despite the fact that he offered the job to several applicants, they declined the position, and he felt that none of the other applicants were right for the school.

In addition, the involuntary transfer of former Spanish teacher Christelle Hutin-Lee to the middle school led to her resignation, leaving the school administration with another empty position.

“There’s been a shortage of Spanish teachers for at least the last couple of years,” spanish teacher Virginia Leskowski said. “I know this because of the contacts I have at other Bay Area high schools, and they are also having troubling finding a Spanish teacher.”

Littlefield said that he was in contact with several other local school districts, and they were also looking to fill the same positions as Piedmont.

“Prior to me coming here, typically every summer I was hiring teachers because we weren’t able to fill them in the spring,” Littlefield said. “And interestingly enough, it was typically science, math, special education and Spanish.”

Due to their lack of success with hiring, the administration made the decision to switch to an online curriculum, Edgenuity, for the remainder of the semester, while still trying to hire teachers for second semester.

The Edgenuity courses started on Monday, and is expected to cost the district $25,000. The money will come from the unrestricted general fund, made up of the Local Control Funding, which is $21.4 million as of June 30, and parcel tax, which is $10.4 million, PUSD CFO Ruth Alhadoiyan said.

Littlefield said that it is unlikely that the school will be able to hire another physics teacher since the school year has already started.

“My biggest concern is going forward,” parent Franki Davies said. “I think this isn’t a problem just for this year. I think that it is a problem that is here to stay.”