Broward County Public Schools held career fair to fill hundreds of positions
FORT LAUDERDALE - Broward County Public Schools put out the "Help Wanted" sign on Friday.
The school district held a career fair in an effort to fill about 1,300 positions at its campuses across the county.
The Back-to-School Career Fair was held at Western High School in Davie. Thousands of people showed up hoping to be hired.
"We are looking for people who have college degrees or no degrees. There is a place for everybody in Broward County public schools. We are the largest employer in the county and people may not understand or realize that there is a position for everybody in the county," said Susan Rockelman, the school district's Director of Talent Acquisition and Operations.
Positions that the district was looking to fill included teachers, classroom/teacher assistants, counselors, bus drivers, security staff, custodians, food service workers, and clerical.
"Most of our positions will start at $15 an hour, you can be a bus operator for a little bit more than that. A teacher's starting salary is $47,500 a year. So it just depends on the qualifications that you have, your education level, and the type of position you're hired for," said Rockelman.
The district had more than 430 teacher openings before the event. While more than 200 people were hired for teaching positions, that left many openings to be filled. That means the district is looking at other options before the start of the new school year on August 16th.
"Sometimes another teacher will have to double up on classrooms, substitute teachers are what we will go to. We have several (substitute) teachers that are assigned to the district, we may have them start off the year for us until we can secure a teacher," said Rockelman.
Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright said despite the nationwide teacher shortage, they are in a better place this year compared to the start of the last school year.
"We're way ahead of where we were this time last school year, unfortunately, every school district has a difficult time right now recruiting and hiring," she said.