Durham Public Schools needs to fill hundreds of vacancies by end of August
The first day of school for most traditional calendar students in our area is Aug. 29, and school leaders in Durham are scrambling to add hundreds of people to the payroll.
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The Durham Public Schools Board of Education will meet Wednesday at the staff development center, where board members will reassess how they can boost recruitment efforts less than a month before school starts.
DPS managed to fill about 50 positions in the final weeks of July, but the district still has over 350 unfilled spots.
Some initial ideas to recruit staff include expanding referral and retention bonuses and finding ways to increase salaries. Other ideas include establishing teacher pipelines, such as finalizing a clear program for high school students interested in teaching.
In July, DPS said it had 686 students on the waitlist for afterschool care, and it needed 46 staff members to cover the waiting list. By July 25, that waitlist had reached a total of 721 students.
To cover the current afterschool care waitlist, the district would need to hire 86 people.
In a meeting last month, parents presented several solutions to DPS leaders, including:
- Paying afterschool workers more money -- workers are currently paid $16 per hour
- Allowing staff members to bring their own kids to work
- Allowing staff members to work Monday, Wednesday and Friday instead of Monday through Friday
- Working with local universities to offer college credit to staff pursuing education degrees
- Asking parents to volunteer
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