Arlington Public Schools in Virginia has over 60 teaching vacancies to fill before the start of the school year, Superintendent Francisco Durán said Thursday, as school leaders across the D.C. region work to make sure every classroom has a teacher by the first day of classes.

At Thursday’s board meeting, Durán said the school system’s classrooms are 97.5% fully staffed with licensed teachers, and that human resources is working to fill “fewer than 68 remaining full-time teacher vacancies” through recruitment events.

Still, Durán said, that puts the county ahead of where it usually is during this time of the year.

“We do know that as we’re getting down to the bottom line, there are still some challenging positions to fill,” Durán said. “We’ll continue to do that. … I’m encouraged with the progress that we are in a better place at this point than we had been in previous years, particularly given the situation nationally and even in our region with regards to very, very high vacancies for school systems around the country.”

School officials across the D.C. region are working to fill vacancies, even though fewer teachers left most local school systems this year than after the 2021-22 school year. A Fairfax County Public Schools job fair drew large crowds in late July, and up to 2,000 preregistered and walk-in applicants explored job possibilities within Prince George’s County Public Schools earlier this week.

In D.C., Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee previously told WTOP that the city tried to gain a competitive advantage by getting offers out quickly and reducing processing time.

To address staffing needs, Durán said HR staff has had more events this year, such as hiring fairs and other virtual opportunities.

Durán said he “won’t be happy” until the school system is 100% staffed, but feels “confident that we’ll be working toward getting that so all of our schools can be filled.”