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    The Elko County School Board responded to a torrent of often angry criticism over the shortage of math teachers at the local high school by agreeing that there was a problem and that it should be fixed by the start of the school year.
    “Obviously the band aid solution did not work,” said Elko Superintendent Antoinette Cavanaugh during the meeting. “When the school year started we had not filled a position for a math teacher. We tried to make do with an on line course.”
    According to parents and students at the school while that arrangement looked good on paper it was an abject failure in practice.
    The online course said one student stresses’ learning by rote and teaches to the tests and very little emphasis on long term retention.
    “It gives you the answers but not the understanding of the mechanics,” the student said.
    the school board accepted the critique and mollified the crowd with news that the situation would be rectified by the start of the next school year.
    According to WWHS principal Keith Walz he and the district have already begun recruiting applicants for the math position and already have candidates.
    “Hopefully not only will we be able to fill the position,” Walz said during the meeting. “But we will fill it with the best among several candidates.”
    The meeting is now being webcast on www.coyote-tv.com.
    Nationwide there is a shortage of math and science teachers said administrators at the Elko District offices Wednesday.
    News reports from California to New York to Maine to Arizona all reflect the problem is both nationwide and not easy to to solve. According to the National Science Teacher Association the problem is specific to math and science teachers.
    One of the leading causes of the shortage is that math and science teachers routinely leave their positions at a much greater rate than other teachers.
    “It economics really,” Walz explained. “There is a demand for people with math and science degrees on the college level and in the private sector. A high school math teacher can find double his or her salary by taking a few more courses.”
    The problem has grown particularly acute with the tech driven boom in the economy over the last five years.
    If there is a bright spot in the new economic downturn, Cavanaugh agreed is that many professionals who were downsized out of a job could be returning to the classrooms from the boardrooms.