Teachers needed in Knox County Schools
Knox County Schools System is in need of 80 teaching positions that are currently unfilled.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Last month Knox County Schools still needed to fill more than 250 teaching positions, and they have been working to fill these spots.
“As of this morning we have fewer than 80 teaching vacancies across the district,” Alex Moseman, the Executive Director of Talent Acquisitions for Knox County Schools, said. “More than half of our schools have no teaching vacancies and when we think about the schools that are really trying to figure out how to close out that last round of staffing for the school year only about 26 schools have one vacancy in them.”
This number has gone down compared to earlier this month when they needed more than 250 teaching positions filled.
“Thinking about the ways that we need to be aggressive and investing in staff and making sure that folks feel seen, heard and valued and so trying to think about what are those specific investments that KCS needs to do to make sure we’re attracting folks into not just the teaching profession but working with all of our students?” said Moseman.
Who do they need most? Math teachers, special education teachers, bus drivers and more. They are offering signing bonuses for specialty teachers. For math, it’s $5,000, and for special education, it’s $7,000. They are even trying to recruit people as early as high school and college.
“Right now, I think we are thinking about what are the steps that person might take and does KCS have the right steps in place and partners to sort of walk them hand and hand down that pathway to make sure they have a smooth transition into a role in Knox County Schools,” said Moseman.
He told WVLT News that 26 schools have only one teacher vacancy in Knox County. Moseman said the open positions don’t affect students learning. Right now, Knox County has one teacher for every 14 students.
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