Broward

Broward Schools Hires Hundreds On the Spot

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They made a big dent in the problem.

Broward County Public Schools says it hired 764 people on the spot today at a career fair held at Western High School in Davie. The school district had 1,200 job openings, including a need for 433 teachers.

The career fair drew just over 2,000 people.

“Every type of job possible is available, from teachers to teacher assistants, guidance counselors to social workers, nurses, bus drivers, custodial, clerical, there’s all types of openings,” said Broward Teachers Union president Anna Fusco.

The district says it had 174 school bus driver openings and 200 people applied for those jobs today. The biggest challenge is still finding teachers. Fusco says the reasons for the shortage are obvious.

“One is pay, we have to have our public schools funded better by our elected leaders up in Tallahassee, that’s one, and two, the cost of living here in Broward has become so ginormous it’s really a struggle for people to afford to live here,” Fusco said.

The district says it hired 213 teachers at the fair, slightly less than half of what it needs. Anyone who wants to become a teacher can do so, as long as they have a college degree. It doesn’t have to be a degree in education, the district will train applicants to do the job.

“We have a plethora of different pathways to become a teacher, we have alternative pathways that if somebody does not have a degree in education, we can hire you and give you those tools and coaches in order to help you become an effective teacher,” said Susan Rockelman, the district’s talent acquisition director.

She says anyone interested in teaching should reach out through the district’s website.

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