ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — School districts across Maryland and the rest of the country are scrambling to fill teaching positions before the school year begins.
“Currently I have 185 vacancies, and it’s the middle of July. First day of school is the end of August,” said Michael Martirano, Howard County Public School System Superintendent.
Martirano said his district has been trying aggressively to hire new teachers by running “constant job fairs,” increasing starting salaries for teachers to $56,500 (up from $50,000 from last year), offering a “high-level benefit package,” asking current teachers to reach out to their friends looking for jobs, advertising, engaging with the community, and even offering teachers a contract before they have job openings, in anticipation of more teachers leaving.
“I want to be ready to go when those applicants come in to offer them a position because it’s extremely competitive between myself and other superintendents in the state of Maryland who are vying for the same pool of individuals,” said Martirano.
Baltimore County Public Schools is also looking to hire more teaching staff. The district has hired 450 teachers since March and is aiming to add at least 450 more teachers before the fall.
“I’m very optimistic, we’ve had some great candidates come through already, I’m got some offers I’m already submitting to our Human Resources department,” said Jamel Jernigan, principal of Woodlawn High School.
Martirano and others say that a lack of people going into teaching and the stresses of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic are some of the reasons for the shortage.
“I think it has a lot to do with the COVID, a lot of teachers retired early and also with the mask mandate, having the mask on all day, especially physical education, is hard for you,” said Michael Fenn, a physical education teacher for Prince George’s County Public Schools.
A Howard County schools teacher told WJZ the district is not used to having the staffing issues that many districts are facing now.
“In the past we’ve always had lots of teachers who all wanted to come to Howard County,” said the teacher, Amy. “It’s a great place to work, and we as a county never really had as much of an issue. But now people are leaving in big numbers.”
The Howard County Public School System is holding job fairs for teachers, special educators, paraeducators, substitute teachers, food and nutrition services staff, and central office support staff on July 30, Aug. 13 and Aug. 27 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia. Registration is required to attend the event. Learn more by visiting the school system’s site.
Baltimore County Public Schools is holding jobs fairs on July 21 and July 28 from 4-7 p.m. at Loch Raven High School.