South Tahoe High Grad teaching in SF as part of teacher residency program

South Tahoe High Graduate Francisco Figueroa-Yanez, known as "Frankie" to his friends, has his new career as a school teacher in San Francisco highlighted in a recent SFGate article titled "Bay Area schools scramble for qualified teachers amid shortage." Frankie graduated from STHS in 2007, went to Santa Clara University where he majored in Biology and Spanish and is now at the University of San Francisco working on his masters degree. He visits South Lake Tahoe when time allows to see his parents and friends.

Photo Caption: Francisco Figueroa-Yanez teaches his first science class of the day at James Lick Middle School in San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. Figueroa-Yanez received Bachelors degrees in Biology and Spanish before moving onto a masters program at USF. Figueroa-Yanez is in the San Francisco Teacher Residency (SFTR) program. SFTR is a partnership between SFUSD, USF, the UESF, and Stanford University to recruit and prepare teachers to work with the highest need students in San Francisco.

A long-predicted teacher shortage has hit several Bay Area school districts this year, resulting in stiff competition for qualified candidates and more classrooms in the hands of temporary or emergency teachers who lack full credentials.

A combination of teacher retirements, high attrition rates, lack of new recruits and increased competition among districts in a postrecession economy has flip-flopped the education job market, school officials say.

“It’s become an employees’ market versus an employers’ market,” said Scott Gaiber, San Francisco Unified director of certificated staffing and recruitment. “There is a lot more competition for talent.”

The complete story...