FILE – Kristyna Kaltounkova of Czech Republic celebrates after scoring her sides first goal during the bronze medal match between Czech Republic and Finland at the Women’s Ice Hockey Championships in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, file)

Sarah Fillier has offensive reinforcements joining her in New York, after the Sirens restocked their expansion-depleted roster by adding two of college hockey’s top scorers in the first round of the PWHL draft Tuesday night.

The Sirens used the No. 1 pick to select rugged, and hard-shooting Colgate forward Kristyna Kaltounkova. Minutes later Sirens general manager Pascal Daoust completed a trade with the Toronto Sceptres to acquire the No. 3 pick and choose Wisconsin center Casey O’Brien, women’s college hockey’s MVP last season.

“Watching who’s on the roster, I’m just really excited to get started,” said Kaltounkova, who is from the Czech Republic and became the first European-born player selected No. 1 in the PWHL draft. “I’m happy to jump in and help out as much as I can and make an impact immediately.”

Daoust traded top defensema Ella Shelton to acquire Toronto’s first and fourth-round pick (27th overall) in the eight-team, six-round draft.

The two forwards fill a major offensive hole after New York lost two of its three leading scorers — Alex Carpenter and Jessie Eldridge — as well as starting goalie Corinne Schroeder to Seattle in the PWHL expansion draft and signing process earlier this month. Carpenter and Eldridge combined to score 20 of the Sirens’ league-low 71 goals last season.

“Now we have more tools to play,” Daoust said. “We just felt that it was an opportunity for us to gear up and cover a new angle and we’re very happy with it.”

Kaltounkova and O’Brien join a team in need of star power after finishing last in the standings in each of the PWHL’s first two seasons and lags in attendance playing out of New Jersey. And they join a lineup deep at defense and features Fillier, last year’s No. 1 pick, who finished tied for the PWHL lead with 29 points.

“Sarah is one of those players who I grew up hearing her name, and I’ve always been a really big fan of her game,” O’Brien said. “I think we have similar vision and so I’d be honored if I got the opportunity to be her teammate.”

The Sirens also acquired two-way forward Kristin O’Neill and the 28th pick in trading forward Abby Roque to the Montreal Victoire.

Two Clarkson defenseman rounded out the top four picks with the Boston Fleet choosing Haley Winn at No. 2, and Montreal drafting Nicole Gosling at No. 4.

For Boston GM Danielle Marmer, Winn’s versatility fills several needs on a team that lost four-time Olympian Hilary Knight to Seattle, as well as defensemen Emily Brown to Seattle and Sydney Bard to Vancouver.

“She can do absolutely everything and anything you need,” Marmer said of Winn, a U.S. national team player at 19 who finished her four-year career as Clarkson’s second-leading scorer among defenders. “If you think about who’s going to score goals for us, Haley Winn can be the answer. Who’s going to defend against (Marie-Philip) Poulin, Haley Winn’s the answer. … She’s someone who can do so much.”

The Ottawa Charge selected Cornell defenseman Rory Guilday at No. 5. The two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost followed by drafting Quinnipiac defenseman Kendall Cooper at No. 6. Cooper provides an offensive dimension to a blue line that lost Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques to Vancouver.

The PWHL’s two expansion teams went next with Vancouver selecting 35-year-old forward Michelle Karvinen, a four-time Olympian and Finland’s career leading scorer in world championship play. Seattle closed the first round by drafting Ohio State forward Jenna Buglioni.

The draft capped a significant day for women’s hockey with former U.S. national team player Brianna Decker and Team Canada’s Jennifer Botterill selected for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. And they were joined by former Canada women’s coach and Victoire GM Daniele Sauvageau becoming the first female elected in the builders category — marking the first time three women were inducted in the same class.

“I couldn’t talk,” Sauvageau said of receiving word of her induction. “And more than they were talking to me and telling me why I was receiving this call, the less I was able to talk because I was very emotional.”

Overall, 23 Americans and 17 Canadians were among the 48 selections, which included two Russian players Anna Shokhina (No. 13) and Fanuza Kadirova (45th), selected by Ottawa. The 28-year-old Shokhina led Russia’s ZhHL women’s league in scoring six times.

Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld said the team did extensive scouting on both players. and he had Shokhina listed as the fourth-best prospect in the draft.

The Sirens’ first-round splash captured most of the attention of the PHWL’s third draft.

Kaltounkova is reunited with Sirens coach Greg Fargo, who previously coached her at Colgate. Kaltounkova leaves the Raiders after five seasons as the school’s career-leading scorer with 111 goals and second with 223 points.

The 23-year-old was honored in serving as a role model for girls in the Czech Republic, where she made her national team debut at the world championships in April.

“I just hope that those little girls that were watching see that it’s not just Americans or Canadians that get drafted high or No. 1,” Kaltounkova said. “It’s going to be hopefully motivation to all of them and shows that it is possible.”

O’Brien was this season’s Patty Kazmaier award winner after leading the nation with 88 points (26 goals, 62 assists) for the NCAA-champion Badgers. In five seasons, the 23-year-old finished with 274 career points in 182 games to break the Wisconsin record held by Knight.

Toronto dealt starting goalie Kristen Campbell — last season’s PWHL goalie of the year — and their third-round pick (19th overall) to Vancouver, who previously added Ottawa starter Emerance Maschmeyer. In return, Toronto landed Vancouver’s picks at No. 16 and 23.

In landing Shelton, a PWHL defender of the year finalist in 2024, the Sceptres improve a defense that already features Renata Fast. Fast and Shelton are teammates on Canada’s national squad and members of the 2022 gold medal-winning team at the Beijing Games.

HARRISBURG — When D’Arcy McQuoid was hired to teach special education in Philadelphia public schools 32 years ago, it took a year for the district to find a place for her in a classroom.

Early career teachers today “can’t believe it” when she tells them about that wait.

Philadelphia and other school districts statewide are struggling to find enough certified teachers to fill vacancies, a trend that advocates for students say is diminishing the quality of kids’ education.

Why fewer people are becoming certified teachers in Pennsylvania is complex, but school officials, educators, and experts offered theories from inequity that leads to low salaries to long commute times and undesirable work locations in rural communities.

Advocates are currently pushing state lawmakers to continue sending more money to the state’s poorest schools and provide more funding for student-teacher stipends.

Teachers get their certifications after completing a preparation program and a student-teaching requirement. The credential ensures that they have enough experience and training before entering the classroom.

A recent report from Penn State education researchers found that the number of teaching certificates issued by the commonwealth dropped by more than 60% between the 2010-11 and 2023-24 school years.

When districts can’t find enough certified teachers to fill vacancies from retirement and regular turnover, districts use emergency permits. These permits are less rigorous than teaching certifications, requiring only a bachelor’s degree, and the state issues them only when schools can find no fully qualified applicants.

The Penn State report found that’s increasingly the case, and during the 2021-22 school year, amid the pandemic, the number of emergency permits the state issued surpassed the number of normal certifications.

The number has remained higher ever since, particularly in districts with concentrations of poverty and students of color.

This is a big concern for public education advocates. Emergency certifications were never meant to be in widespread use, said Christopher Lilienthal, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, a teachers union.

“It went from being a stopgap thing that gets used very rarely to something that school districts and school entities have had to use consistently to fill these positions because of this shortage,” he said.

Ed Fuller, an associate professor at Penn State’s College of Education and a co-author of the report, said all teacher shortages are negatively associated with student outcomes. He also stressed that shortages can have a negative economic impact on the state.

“We know when kids have lower achievement, they’re less likely to generate tax revenue, they’re more likely to require more state support in the health system, they’re more likely to end up in the criminal justice system,” he said. “So when we’re not providing all of our children quality teachers every single year … in fact, we’re losing money. We’re losing money from the state.”

Teacher shortages across the state vary widely, but they are heavily concentrated in urban and rural counties, according to Fuller.

Districts with higher rates of poverty tend to be the ones with worse shortages, he said, and those with high numbers of students of color also tend to suffer larger shortages.

Inequalities in Pennsylvania’s public school districts are a longstanding concern among educators and advocates.

State lawmakers are under a 2023 court order to fix what a judge called an unconstitutionally inequitable public education system. Last year, they made their first big attempt at rectifying it, sending $500 million to the commonwealth’s poorest districts.

Democratic lawmakers in the state House and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro have proposed a similar investment in this year’s budget, which is due June 30. But Republicans, who control the state Senate, have not committed to the spending.

Education advocates told Spotlight PA they are optimistic about proposed increases to education funding. Along with the extra money for poor schools, Shapiro has proposed doubling student-teacher stipends to $40 million, according to the budget plan.

The program, now in its first year, currently provides $10,000 stipends to student-teachers on a first-come, first-served basis.

“If this program continues, I would be shocked if we did not see a dramatic uptick in the number of college students coming out of college and getting their first-time certificates for being an educator,” said Aaron Chapin, PSEA’s president.

A big district with unique problems

The School District of Philadelphia, which serves Pennsylvania’s biggest city, enrolls nearly 200,000 students and operates 331 schools.

The Penn State report found severe teacher shortages in the district, and also gave it low marks for teacher quality and levels of attrition. In the current school year, there were 644 vacancies across the district, and last school year, 23% of teachers had emergency permits, according to the report.

Laura Boyce, executive director of the teacher advocacy nonprofit, Teach Plus Pennsylvania, said underfunding could be the cause of a lot of these issues. But she emphasized that more research is needed to fully understand the scope of the problem.

“The districts that are suffering the most from the teacher shortage are those that have the largest adequacy gaps, that are the most underfunded by the state,” Boyce said.

An adequacy gap is a concept state lawmakers introduced to address the 2023 court ruling that found Pennsylvania hadn’t invested enough money in poor school districts. Defined as the difference between the amount a district spends per student and the amount that the district would need to spend to serve each child at an acceptable level, the metric now informs new education spending.

Lawmakers have estimated that Philadelphia’s school district has the biggest adequacy gap in the state, at more than $1.2 billion total.

Boyce said adequacy gaps lead to districts offering lower teacher salaries and having poorer working conditions, which make it difficult for them to compete for teachers.

In addition to the larger national trends she named — declining prestige of the teaching profession, student behavioral issues, and teacher attrition — she identified inequity as a core concern. “If you have just a reduced supply of teachers, not all districts are experiencing it the same, and those with the fewest resources are going to be the ones who are having the hardest time both recruiting and retaining teachers,” Boyce said.

Shortages have created a new reliance on emergency certified teachers in Philadelphia. As a potential solution, some school districts are looking for ways to encourage emergency certified teachers to get more certifications, Boyce said.

The issue is urgent. Students internalize staff shortages and feel like they are part of the problem when the real issue is systemic, according to Kate Sundeen, a teacher at the Academy at Palumbo high school and political liaison for the School District of Philadelphia.

“As much as we say, ‘It’s not about you’ to the students, the students are like, ‘Well, then why isn’t it changing?’” Sundeen said.

Rural counties have lots of land, few teachers

Rural counties also feel the strain of teacher shortages, Fuller said.

Warren County School District, located in northwestern Pennsylvania, enrolls nearly 3,800 students and operates nine schools. According to the Penn State report, during the period reviewed, Warren, like Philadelphia, had a severe teacher shortage, lower quality teachers, and high levels of attrition.

This school year, there are only four vacancies across the district, but as of last year — the most recent year with complete data — 22% of teachers had emergency permits.

Shortages particularly hurt technical and special education, as well as advanced math and science courses, according to Gary Weber, the superintendent of Warren County School District. The district encompasses almost the entire county.

Weber thinks the shortage issue dates all the way back to the 10% cut to the state’s basic education budget under Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in 2010, in the midst of a serious post-recession shortfall.

The move, he said, caused his district to furlough many teachers. He thinks the state then saw a trickle-down effect in which Pennsylvania colleges and universities stopped offering teaching programs because there were fewer available jobs across the commonwealth.

Weber said it’s especially difficult to find teachers certified in specialized subjects such as physics.

“We used to have, 20 years ago, 50, 60, 70, 80 applicants. We’re lucky if we have 10 at this time. In many cases, we might have two or three. And in some cases, we’re going out and trying to find people,” he said.

Fuller said rural school districts like Warren often face recruiting challenges because they have fewer people around.

“Unless a district is relatively close to prep programs producing a fair amount of teachers, then it is hard to find enough teachers to hire. Research shows that teachers work where they went to high school or where they went to college,” he said.

Teachers in big rural counties also struggle with commute times. Warren’s single primary school district, for instance, covers almost the entirety of the county’s nearly 900 square miles. Schools are spaced out around the district, so even teachers living inside county lines may have to travel long distances for work.

Rural Blair County has similar staffing problems, according to teachers who shared their experiences with Spotlight PA.

While Penn State’s study found that Blair County’s overall teacher shortage wasn’t as bad as others — it was rated as having a “high” shortage as opposed to a “severe” one, like Philly and Warren — its supply of new teachers, teacher quality, and rate of attrition all got low marks.

Dan Drumm, a music teacher in the county’s Spring Cove School District, said he’s wary of encouraging his elementary students to become teachers.

Students aren’t oblivious to debates over educational politics, testing, expenses, safety, and other issues, Drumm explained.

“It’s the culmination of all these things together that make the profession undesirable for a lot of people,” he said.

As a potential solution, some schools are starting “Grow-your-own” programs to get high school students interested in the profession.

“You are attracting those who are already in the community, already connected to schools, and creating high-quality, low-cost pathways for them into the profession,” Boyce said of the initiative.

Some schools also offer formal pathways, like Career and Technical Education programs, for students interested in becoming teachers.

Other schools take a more homespun approach.

Social studies teacher Joe Logan, who has worked at Central High School in the Spring Cove district for 24 years, first ran his “Future Teachers Club” in the 2021-22 school year. In meetings, Logan talks with students about teaching, getting an education degree, and local opportunities. He started the club to replicate the inspiration he got from his high school teachers.

“I’d like to be that same kind of catalyst for the students that are looking at getting into education,” he said.