ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – As nearly 212,000 students went back to school in Orange County on Thursday, district leaders are talking about the changes they’re facing because of staffing shortages.
Superintendent Dr. Maria Vazquez welcomed students back for the first day of classes at Dommerich Elementary School.
During the visit, Vazquez spoke about what she called a nationwide teacher shortage.
“As of (Wednesday) afternoon, there were just under 50 classes in the entire district — remember, that’s 210 schools — that did not have someone assigned as a teacher,” Vazquez said.
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According to Orange County Public Schools, there are around 350 instructional position openings and the vacancy rate in classrooms is around 3%.
“We are deploying as many staff to be able to fill those vacancies,” Vazquez said. “We hope that once we go through the first ten days and do the recount, we’ll have a better idea based on those numbers, but we’re still at about three percent.”
Another concern is a shortfall of bus drivers.
Addressing the situation, the district has adjusted routes at some schools.
“We instituted more efficient routes to help with the shortage, but it is still a problem,” Vazquez said. “We’re still having to do double backs. Double backs is where a bus driver has to do two runs for one school.”
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Vazquez said salary competition from the private sector is an ongoing problem, but negotiations are currently happening to improve bus driver pay.
To help with the situation, Vazquez has encouraged parents to drive students to school, if possible.
“We have an amazing group of bus drivers and bus monitors, but the shortage is something that I believe we are going to continue to feel,” Vazquez said.
Recruitment efforts for OCPS will continue throughout the school year.
For details on current job openings within OCPS, click here.
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