WASHINGTON COUNTY - With less than a month until students return to public schools in Washington County, officials say they continue to recruit and hire teachers.
Donna Newcomer, assistant director of human resources, said 130 new teachers have been hired since March.
She estimates that 50 positions still need to be filled.
"We generally average anywhere between 150 to 250 vacancies each year," Newcomer said. "Some of them are as a result of resignations, some are retirements and some are because of leaves of absences."
She said about 55 vacancies this year are due to retirements, and another 144 resignations have been documented since November.
Newcomer said that when school begins in Washington County, there will likely be a handful of vacancies remaining in hard-to-fill areas. These include speech therapy, math, science, special education, English and foreign languages.
"These are critical shortage areas," she said. "Everyone is vying for the same folks at that point. Sometimes the best salary wins and sometimes folks are hoping to live in (a particular place)."
