Baltimore County Superintendent Dr. Darryl Williams discusses teacher shortages, new school year
TOWSON, Md. -- Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Darryl Williams is entering the final school year under his contract.
"Everybody's happy on the first day of school. And so I don't have any anxiety," he said. "I'm just excited. I just want to make sure things are working."
Williams will make the rounds Monday across the district, amid a national -- and local -- teaching shortage.
"We have about 400 vacancies and that number is steadily declining, because of the recruitment efforts that our HR members are doing," Williams said.
Though they wouldn't give an exact figure, Baltimore County district staff said after resource reallocation, recruitment and restructuring, they've cut that number in half.
It still has close to 200 classroom vacancies, many in special education, math and elementary levels.
"We have been hiring and having recruitment efforts all year," said Williams. Staffing is not a one-season activity. It's a year-long activity."
Baltimore County Public Schools is not only getting this message out on the front lawn of district headquarters on Charles Street, but also statewide, by land and by sea with floating billboards this summer in Ocean City.
Williams said each school will have at least one substitute to fill any needs as they pop up.
COVID contributed to more retirements in recent years, he said.
"The pandemic was very traumatic for our families, students and our staff," Williams said. "And so those with years of service, probably decided, You know, 30 plus years is a good tenure."
COVID is also a reason for an extensive summer school program this year to close some students' learning gaps.
"We realized some students needed to have face-to-face learning with a staff member, but there were others who did well just as well as online," he said.
Virtual learning programs will be one of the ways class sizes can remain down, given those teacher vacancies.
"We want to provide that as an alternative for some students and some classes so we can make sure we're not having twice the number of students in one particular class," Williams said.
