DUBLIN, Ga. — According to the National Center for Education Statistics, last October, 45% of public schools were operating without a full teaching staff.
Dublin City Schools are fully staffed for the year, but they're trying to get ahead of a problem that's affecting many districts across the state.
"We really have focused on this problem of a teacher shortage, this nationwide teacher shortage. And so our goal has been to look beyond Georgia, across the nation, even outside our borders to find the best teachers that we can," H.R. Director for Dublin City Schools Amy Duke said.
By looking beyond the United States border, they hired Venkatreddy Vundyala from India about four years ago.
"I got this position, I looked up online. I read about the school and I felt...so excited," Vundyala said.
He followed that good feeling he had about the position to Dublin High School, where he teaches Spanish.
Vundyala said what made that transition smooth for him and his wife was how welcoming the staff and community was at work.
Joan Campbell said she agrees. She's one of multiple teachers from Jamaica who teaches at Hillcrest Elementary School.
"It was like a learning process all over again, but it has been really, really good because of the support I get from my Hillcrest family," Campbell said.
She started teaching English in Dublin last year and said it's not always easy because she misses home and her daughter.
But she's always had a dream of teaching abroad and knew it was the right time to take that leap of faith because her daughter's in college now.
One of her favorite parts about teaching in Dublin is educating her students about her culture.
"The good thing about that is our students are now exposed to different cultures, that they might not be exposed to otherwise. And so we really want to be a world-class charter school system that produces globally competitive students," Duke said.
Dublin City Schools has about ten teachers they've hired from India, Venezuela, South Africa, and Jamaica.
They use agencies to help them hire teachers abroad, but word of mouth has also been their friend. Since hiring their first international teacher about four years ago, they've had their global teachers recommend the Emerald City to more of their teacher friends back home.