Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) released a statement about their teacher vacancies for the upcoming school year. The statement is below:
“Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) is looking forward to welcoming more than 111,000 students back to school on Monday, August 29, 2022. The purpose of this message is to provide an update on our readiness for the opening of schools and ongoing efforts to recruit and hire highly qualified teachers. We want to make certain that each student has a qualified, consistent classroom teacher when the school year begins on Monday.
On August 18, 2022, system leadership provided a teacher staffing update to the Board of Education which highlighted that we were 96 percent staffed with approximately 400 vacancies within the ranks of our 9,100-member teacher workforce. As a result of strategic and innovative recruitment efforts, resource reallocation, and reimagined school operations, we are pleased to share that we have addressed 98 percent of our teacher staffing needs and we now have fewer than 200 remaining classroom vacancies.
BCPS, along with other districts in the state and nation, has faced significant teacher shortages. More than 5,500 Maryland teachers left their positions in 2022, according to the Maryland State Department of Education (“Maryland’s Teacher Workforce: Supply, Demand, and Diversity,” July 26, 2022). We believe that the efforts highlighted below will help address 2022-2023 teacher staffing challenges and ensure all BCPS students have access to high-quality instruction.
Recruitment
BCPS has hired 774 teachers, with an additional 32 in the onboarding process, and will continue to aggressively recruit, hire, and onboard high-quality staff to fill vacancies across the system.
Kelly Education, our partner agency, has worked to place 133 qualified long-term substitutes in open positions.
In response to the Maryland State Board of Education approved conditional waiver extension, BCPS has invited 165 conditionally approved teachers who meet the requirements to return.
Recent retirees have been asked to return as full-time or part-time teachers at a highly competitive rate of pay.
All secondary schools have hired safety assistants who will work with school administration and school resource officers to ensure safe and supportive learning environments.
Resource Reallocation
In elementary schools, principals have assigned qualified non-teaching staff to classroom teacher positions.
97 certified central office staff have been reassigned to schools in critical need areas, including special education. As positions are filled, reassigned staff will return to their original positions.
Interns from Morgan State University, UMBC, and Towson University have been assigned as long-term substitutes in specific schools.
Reimagined School Operations
School leaders have worked to improve operations and are utilizing creative strategies to meet growing student needs. This has included reviewing class sizes at all levels to determine if under-enrolled classes can be combined to reduce the number of vacancies.
Select high schools will provide eLearning options for virtual math and technology courses.
355 secondary teachers have volunteered to teach an extra period for additional compensation.
Additionally, BCPS has allocated funds to assign a permanent daily substitute to each school. This will help minimize the impact of unplanned coverage requests. Additionally, we will continue to provide emergency coverage compensation for staff. Our recruitment efforts will continue throughout the year.”
