PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — During a time when many are leaving the profession, a Pinellas County teacher was nationally recognized Wednesday for her dedication to the classroom.

Dr. Kristie Joe Redfering, who teaches special education at the Nina Harris Exceptional Student Education Center in Pinellas Park, received the 2023 Special Education Teacher of the Year award from The Council for Exceptional Children.

The organization is hoping by recognizing teachers like this and sharing their stories, it will help inspire more people to become educators.

Even though she says she was in complete shock, Dr. Redfering happily made her way down the hallway as her students cheered all around her.  

“They surprise me every day. We look for success’s others may not see, but they have success every single day,” said Redfering. 

“It means that people notice working hard, and when you care about your students, sometimes we don’t always feel that way because we’re really, really busy, we have a lot to do, so to realize they do notice, and it really is making a difference,” said Redfering.

Simply acknowledging teachers’ hard work can go a long way. Chad Rummel with the National Council for Exceptional Children says the teacher shortage hits especially hard in special education, and he hopes by recognizing educators like Redfering, it will inspire others.

“When people see someone like Kristie Jo Redfering, and the kind of person she is, people want to be like her, she’s an inspiring because she commits herself to 100% student success,” said Rummel.

In Pinellas County, there are 145 teacher vacancies, which district officials say is normal this time of year, but still, nationwide, teachers are desperately needed. And while there are many possible reasons for the shortage, Redfering says she will never give up.

“It’s been the love of my life to work with these kids," she said.

This past week, the Florida Education Association tweeted that there are over 5,000 teacher vacancies across the state, but the Department of Education says that number isn’t accurate because the FEA isn’t using accurate data gathering methods.  According to the DOE, the state’s teacher vacancy rate is less than half that of the rest of the country.  

The Director of Communications for the DOE, Alex lanfranconi, released a statement saying in part, “Rather than spending time and resources pursuing the websites of school districts looking for a mythical teacher shortage that does not exist, the union should be supporting our continued efforts to recruit and retain high-quality educators.”