With a week to go before the start of the school year, the superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools says Virginia’s largest school system is now close to 99% staffed for classroom positions.
An Aug. 15 message from Michelle Reid, the school system’s superintendent, said she anticipates having an instructor in every classroom who is either currently licensed or working to attain their license through the school system’s teacher residency program. That program allows teachers to start teaching this fall while completing licensing requirements.
Reid’s message didn’t provide the exact number of vacant positions, but the school system employs about 15,000 teachers and nearly 25,000 full-time employees.
The school system will provide more information about staffing updates during two online information sessions later this week that Reid is hosting for parents, employees and community members.
The sessions will be held Aug. 17 from 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. and Aug. 18 from noon to 12:45 p.m. Information on how to sign up is available online.
In a message to parents earlier this month, Reid said the school system was about 97% staffed across all positions, which the teacher’s union said equated to about 600 remaining vacancies.
School districts around the D.C. area — and across the country — have been grappling with staffing shortages as the start of the school year approaches.
During a news conference last week, officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, said the school system — Maryland’s largest — was 98% staffed, which meant a few hundred open positions for teachers, support service positions and bus drivers.
The first day of school for Fairfax County Public Schools is Aug. 22.