The Patterson School District says it has been able to fill vacancies in New Jersey as the country deals with teacher shortages.
School districts are scrambling to fill jobs two weeks before school starts statewide.
The Paterson School District’s human resources department has been scrambling to find talent, and it’s going well. In the last two months he has been able to fill 72 vacancies.
The school district was filling 168 vacancies.
This is not an uncommon problem for New Jersey school districts. More teachers will leave the profession and fewer will join the ranks.
Vice Superintendent and Employment Chief Luis Rojas says it’s simple supply and demand.
“The demand for teachers is higher than the supply of candidates,” he explains.
But Rojas says what he needs most is a special education teacher.
Rojas says the school was able to fill 72 teacher vacancies with the help of two full-time recruiters the school board allowed him. They thoroughly narrowed down the candidates at the university, social media, and his five job fairs.
Across the country, teachers left their professions during and after the pandemic. In fact, in the last two years he has left the profession by 300,000.
Burnout, low wages and hard work due to COVID-19.
Rojas said at Patterson that vacancies weren’t an issue before the pandemic. He says at the time, 40 vacancies were more than enough to fill. Now he has 122 of his left.
Rojas encourages anyone looking for teaching jobs in the district to check out its website.