Across the state, school districts have found it harder and harder to fill some positions as many educators leave the profession and fewer educators join the workforce in their place. After Manchester City Schools in Adams County could not get candidates to apply for a high school science teaching job, the superintendent asked Jeff Crask - who was working at Wal-Mart after retiring from teaching nearly a decade ago - to come back to his old classroom. Crask tells us why he agreed to fill the need, and why he's decided to stay on for another year.

DIVE DEEPER | To learn more about recommendations from OEA members about solutions to address the growing teacher recruitment and retention crisis, click here. 

Featured Education Matters guest: 

• Jeff Crask, Manchester Ohio River Educators member
  • Jeff Crask returned to teaching at Manchester High School in Adams County for the 2022-2023 school year, after retiring from teaching in 2014. He has agreed to return to Manchester High School for the 2023-2024 school year, too.
  • Crask served three years in the US Army, 1975-1978, as a Medical Specialist, Stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. After the Army, Crask earned his BS in Biology at Campbellsville University, Campbellsville, Kentucky, in 1984. Cabpbellsville University had about 600 students at the time. In 1986, he received an MS in Botany from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. 
  • Before taking his first teaching job as a chemistry teacher at Knott County Central High School in Hindman, Kentucky, Crask was the overnight DJ at rock station WKQQ in Lexington, Kentucky, which he described as his dream job at the time. Crask described his first year of teaching at Knott County Central High School as a nightmare, saying "I didn't know much about Chemistry and I sure didn't know how to discipline students."
  • Crask had a much better first year when he became a Biology/Chemistry Teacher at Manchester High School, where he taught from 1992 until 2014. He didn't know anyone when he moved to the area for the job, but enjoyed the small class sizes, especially. His biggest class had 20 students, while his Anatomy class only had five students. 
  • After 22 years at Manchester High School, Crask retired in 2014. He worked at Amazon and then Walmart. "I found out that I'm not very good at working really fast for 8-10 hours. Oh well," Crask said of the experience. 
  • In 2022, Crask says his former coworkers from Manchester High School kept asking him to come back and teach again, or the students weren't going to have a Biology teacher, so after some soul-searching he told them he would. Crask says he had a great year and will teach at least one more. "It was nice to use the science equipment again," he said.
  • Crask has three grown children, James, Juliana, and Jack. James teaches Kindergarten in Portsmouth, Ohio!

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• TheOhio Education Association represents about 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
• Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May 2020, after a ten-year career as an Emmy Award winning television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children.

This episode was recorded on May 22, 2023.