CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- While teacher staffing has improved both nationwide and locally, educators and parents say challenges remain, particularly in mental health support for students. “Kids are not getting the skills that they need. And then we ask ourselves, 'How are we failing our students? And it's all of that, just the lack of staff,” said Jayne Beale, a former teacher at Ettrick Elementary School and current Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS) behavioral specialist. Beale said when she started working at Ettrick Elementary around 2018, it had nearly lost state accreditation and saw high turnover rates for teachers. Now, she said the school is much different. "Ettrick is one of the few schools that are close to or fully staffed at this point, and I know for a fact not all Chesterfield schools are,” Beale said. "Right now, something around like 80% of the staff has some type of RTR relation.” RTR, or Richmond Teacher Residency, trains teachers for underserved, hard-to-staff schools in Central Virginia. CCPS said between the 2021-2024 school years, general education teacher attrition decreased by about 4%, meaning teachers are staying at schools longer now. It lists "teacher" as the most common CCPS job title, noting it has more than 5,000 teachers county-wide. According to a presentation from CCPS, in fiscal year 2024, the school district hired 2,972 people including full-time, part-time, substitute and temporary employees. This aligns with nationwide data, showing that the post-pandemic teacher shortage is improving. While this is a win for students, Beale points out there is more to the story. "The positions are being filled. But as I said, they have been filled with non-teachers, with long-term subs. So yes, there is a body in the room, but that doesn't mean that it's a qualified body," Beale said. "But it doesn't mean still that they aren't prepared to teach." Beyond teacher shortages, parents are raising concerns about a lack of mental health counselors. “There's supposed to be 250 students per one counselor,” said Annette Mellott, a Carver Middle School parent. However, with one of the school’s three counselors being transferred, the remaining two will now serve over 1,000 students. This data comes from the American School Counselor Association. To address this issue, Mellott started a petition to prevent the transfer, arguing that both Carver Middle School and Falling Creek Middle School—where the counselor is being relocated—face resource shortages. “There should be an increase in counselors, period. I think that's very important in these days and times where everything is changing," Mellott said. "To have somebody that the student can go to that they trust and they respect.” Mellott, who has a son and daughter in the school, said the petition is about more than just staffing numbers. “Abandonment is a big reason why I wanted to do the petition, because I don't want these children to feel like, 'Okay, I put all my trust and love in one person, and you went and moved that person," Mellott said. For more information on RTR click here. For the petition, click here. ...read more read less