New Hanover County Schools almost fully staffed despite national teacher shortage

Sydney Hoover, Wilmington StarNews
·3 min read

With the new school year about to start, New Hanover County has very few vacancies despite a national shortage of teachers.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, across the country teachers are experiencing burnout and oftentimes leaving their careers. States like Kansas, Nevada, California, and Arizona are experiencing dire teacher shortages with thousands of unfilled teaching positions to start the 2022-23 school year.

While Wilmington-area schools do have some teaching positions open ahead of the new school year, New Hanover County Schools Superintendent Charles Foust said during a July school board meeting that certified teaching positions were 98% filled, with only 50 open positions across all schools in the district.

Snipes Elementary is one of several schools throughout New Hanover County celebrating a full teaching staff to start the 2022-23 school year.
Snipes Elementary is one of several schools throughout New Hanover County celebrating a full teaching staff to start the 2022-23 school year.

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He said that for classified staff, such as teaching assistants, bus drivers and nutrition staff, positions were 96% filled.

As of July, 36 schools were fully staffed and only three had two or more vacancies.

The district has filled many of those open positions since the school board meeting last month and now has nine teaching positions open in all schools, according to the district’s job board. The StarNews requested further information regarding openings but was referred to the district’s website.

According to the job board, Laney High School has the highest need, particularly for three career and technical education teachers and three custodians, among other open positions. Hoggard High School has three open positions to teach career and technical education, and New Hanover High School has an open assistant principal position.

The district has also celebrated several schools that are now fully staffed on its social media, including Bellamy Elementary, Blair Elementary, Snipes Elementary, Johnson Pre-K, and Alderman Elementary.

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Overall, there are a number of open school-based positions across the district, including teachers, teaching assistants, food and nutrition staff, counselors, administrators, and other positions. That includes at least 16 teaching assistants, nine teachers, 14 bus drivers and 13 custodians. The district employs more than 1,700 people.

Here are the schools that had open positions posted on the district’s job board as of Aug. 24:

  • Anderson Elementary: custodian

  • Ashley High School: career and technical education teacher, teaching assistant

  • Bellamy Elementary: custodian manager, custodian, child nutrition helper

  • Blair Elementary: tutor

  • Castle Hayne Elementary: teacher assistant

  • College Park Elementary: two teacher assistants

  • Eaton Elementary: teacher assistant

  • Hoggard High School: teaching assistant, tutor, support associate

  • Holly Shelter Middle School: custodian, child nutrition helper, teacher assistant

  • Holly Tree Elementary: two teaching assistants, child nutrition manager

  • Howe Pre-K: teacher

  • Isaac Bear Early College High School: social worker

  • JC Roe Center: interventionist, teaching assistant

  • Johnson Pre-K: custodian

  • Laney High School: counselor, three CTE teachers, three custodians, three teacher assistants

  • Masonboro Elementary: two teaching assistants, two custodians

  • Murray Middle School: two teaching assistants, one cook

  • Myrtle Grove Middle School: two teachers

  • New Hanover High School: assistant principal, custodian

  • Noble Middle School: cook

  • Ogden Elementary: Media coordinator

  • Pine Valley Elementary: custodian

  • Porter’s Neck Elementary: support associate, teaching assistant, child nutrition helper

  • Roland-Grise Middle School: teaching assistant

  • SEA Tech: teacher, child nutrition helper, tutor

  • Sunset Park Elementary: two teaching assistants

  • Williston Middle School: social studies teacher, art teacher, teaching assistant, custodian, cook

  • Wrightsboro Elementary: teaching assistant

  • Wrightsville Beach Elementary: resource teacher

Contact reporter Sydney Hoover at shoover@gannett.com or on Twitter @sydneymhoover. Join the Education Issues in Southeastern North Carolina Facebook group to stay up-to-date on education news.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover County Schools has few teacher vacancies ahead of new year