Tukwila, Washington is a working-class suburb just south of Seattle where three-quarters of young people in the city’s schools are low-income and about two-thirds are Black, Hispanic, Asian or multi-racial. Most families rent apartments rather than own homes.

Two months into the school year, the 2,800-student district is seeking an extra cafeteria worker, two additional bus drivers and four paraeducators — meaning the school system is operating at about 7 percent below capacity for those roles. Periodically, district administrators have had to fill in as substitute teachers and the transportation director, normally a desk position, has been forced to drive bus routes.

“The impact of a staffing shortage feels more severe this year than it has in the past,” Tukwila Human Resources Director Aaron Draganov told The 74, noting that the district recently saw an “unusually high number of retirements,” especially in transportation.

But just a few miles to the northeast, on Mercer Island, the story is completely different.

Located between Seattle and Bellevue in a community that is home to a Microsoft co-founder and numerous retired pro athletes, and where typical home values land around $2 million, according to Zillow, Mercer Island School District has largely avoided such staffing woes.

“We are not experiencing the same struggles as other districts,” Executive Director of Human Resources Erin Battersby told The 74. Over 98 percent of support staff roles in the 4,500-student district are filled, according to data she provided.

“If you want to talk about staff shortages, we’re probably not the district to talk to, because we’re doing pretty well,” the HR director said.

The contrasting circumstances in the two school systems represent a fissure in staffing patterns well beyond the Seattle area.

Read the full article about staffing shortages by Asher Lehrer-Small at The 74.