The School District of Lee County says it has filled its April 2025 baseline of 575 identified instructional vacancies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so proud of the work of all the groups. It truly is a new day in the School District of Lee County. It really stabilizes the instructional workforce,\u201d Chief of Human Resources Shanna Johnston said this week.<\/p>\n
Although the 575 vacancies were tracked down to zero, an organization of the district\u2019s size has employee\u2019s retiring, moving or staying home on medical or parental leave, which creates vacancies.<\/p>\n
The district refers this to the \u201cmoving target,\u201d resulting in rolling vacancies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do have 25 vacancies right now, which is a huge improvement from this time last year. We were at 190 vacancies,\u201d Johnston said Monday. \u201cThe 25 vacancies are less than a half percent of almost 6,000 teachers. I would put that as we stabilized our instructional staff at this point. Our stats are some of the best in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
To fill those vacancies, the talent acquisition team has not stopped, they continue to source and recruit candidates as a vacancy becomes open.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a more efficient system. We are feeding principals viable candidates and they are able to hire more quickly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The 575 vacancies were filled through the district\u2019s initiative Project Believe.<\/p>\n
She said going from 575 vacancies to zero was a team effort with the school board, superintendent, cabinet members, principals and the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur talent acquisition team, I would say, is top of the nation,\u201d Johnston said.<\/p>\n
One of the strategies shared was \u201ceveryone is a recruiter.\u201d<\/p>\n
They made yard signs that principals and board members used, sharing that the district was hiring \u2013 easy access to hiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach school and location developed a recruitment team of their own teachers and staff,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cWe sent them social media posts of their openings where they could share how great it was to work at their school. That was one method, school-based recruitment teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another method was the grow your own program. The district identified paraprofessionals who had a bachelor\u2019s degree, as well as others they could invite to take advantage of the state-offered certification pathway.<\/p>\n
Johnston said when she took over the human resource division in July, the goal stemmed around retaining 95% of teachers. Each of the eight departments in human resources had a goal specific to the retention goal. From that, one of the disciplines \u2013 escalation cadence of accountability, was used.<\/p>\n
There were weekly emails sent to principals with stats \u2013 openings by region and school, and schools that had success of reaching 100% of teachers hired.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started sharing their strategies and best practices and partnered them with schools that may have been struggling,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cTruly a one district team effort to get these vacancies filled.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district had the highest teacher increase in the state with negotiated compensation this year at 7%, which Johnston said is a big piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n
The primary goal is to make sure there is a certified teacher in every classroom \u2013 even the 25 \u201crolling\u201d vacancies.<\/p>\n
The expectations are that every vacancy is covered by certified teachers in-house, or through Kelly Guest Services, she said.<\/p>\n
This differs from when a teacher is sick, on leave, or on vacation. Those classrooms are covered by regular substitute teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mission is simple: a certified teacher for every student in Lee County,\u201d Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin said in a prepared statement. \u201cBy sharing these internal metrics, we want the community to see the dedicated work happening behind the scenes every day. Recruitment is a collaborative effort between our Human Resources division, central office, and our school leadership teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Current job openings can be viewed and applied for by visiting\u00a0www.Leeschools.net\/Careers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n