Seacoast schools struggle to fill open positions; Rochester plans multiple job fairs

Superintendent Kyle Repucci was direct when explaining the great need to fill positions in the Rochester School District's 12 schools.

"We have openings everywhere," Repucci said. "There is almost no position where we do not have availability. All of the positions are in our budget and we want to hire them."

The Rochester district (SAU 54) will host job fairs 9 a.m. to noon and 4 to 6 p.m. on four dates, July 26 and 27 and Aug. 2 and 3, at the Richard W. Creteau Regional Technology Center at 130 Wakefield St.

The Rochester job openings include administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals, custodial, food service and more.

"We have positions open because of retirements, because of resignations and because of people moving to other districts," Repucci said.

School hiring a challenge everywhere

Repucci noted Rochester is not alone. The clock is ticking with the 2022-23 school year beginning in late August for most schools.

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"I have been here 20 years and have never seen such movement in the districts," Repucci said. "Other areas, like Exeter, Portsmouth and Winnacunnet, usually more stable, are seeing this. It's due in part to the market we are in right now. It's tough everywhere."

Rochester is seeking one principal and two assistant principals among its five administration position openings. As of mid-week, there were 21 teacher positions open across Rochester's eight elementary schools and dozens of support staff positions open.

"The majority of our jobs available are for paraprofessionals, education support positions," Repucci said. "I think we have about 50 positions there."

Subcontractors may be needed

Rochester is looking for a few school psychologists, too. Repucci said the district leaders prefer those positions to be in-house for continuity, but acknowledges the district may need to subcontract for those services if hiring efforts aren't successful.

"If we have our own in-house psychologists, parents are not faced with having more than one person handling their child's case," he said. "That is much more comfortable for parents and children, if there is one person on the case. So, that's what we are hoping for."

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SAU 54 also needs custodians, grounds workers and cafeteria employees. Again, Repucci said, Rochester school leaders will consider subcontractors if they do not have the positions filled by late August.

Needs at schools around Seacoast

Steve Zadravec is getting his feet wet as superintendent of SAU 50 schools in Greenland, Newington, New Castle and Rye. He came to the district from Portsmouth, where he was superintendent since 2015 and assistant superintendent for a decade before that.

"We are still having a hard time hiring paraprofessionals," he said. "And we have a unique situation as we cover several communities so a lot of our positions, like custodial, are part-time and they are harder to fill. We are advertising, and reissuing ads. We are just generally making sure the word gets out for those people looking for positions, to let them know we are here and hiring."

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Charlene Sears, human resources manager for SAU 21, the Winnacunnet school district in the Hampton area, said they have about 31 open positions "most of them being educational associates (paraprofessional support)."

"We are finding them the most difficult to fill," she said. "We are advertising as we normally do, and the positions are all listed on our websites. Otherwise, we are in pretty good shape with teachers and administrators."

Dover schools Superintendent William Harbron said as of July 15, the following positions were vacant:

Garrison School: Second-grade teacher, fourth-grade teacher, occupational therapist, and special education teacher.

Woodman Park School: Behavioral specialist.

Dover Middle School: Three special education teachers and an occupational therapist.

Dover High School: Math teacher and two special education teachers.

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"This does not include paraeducators at this time," Harbron said. "We are going through our regular advertising process right now and hoping that's enough."

In Somersworth, Superintendent Lori Lane said, "Our biggest need is paraeducators. I believe we have 6 to 8 open positions. We always need substitutes — that's a constant need."

Lane said the district's teaching positions are nearly filled.

"Our biggest area of need is in special education — teachers, school psychologist and we have a speech therapist position open," Lane said. " And we need an automotive tech teacher.  All of these positions are tough to fill."

Filling positions will likely go right up to the last minute, said area superintendents.

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"Fortunately, we still have a few weeks left before school starts," Lane said.  "We aren't planning to do any job fairs but we are going to start having internal discussions next week ... on how we are going to meet our needs if we are not able to fill these positions."

As of mid-week, SAU 16 in Exeter had more than 50 positions listed on its website, including seven elementary school teachers and numerous paraprofessional and support positions. SAU 16 schools are in Brentwood, East Kingston, Exeter, Kensington, Newfields and Stratham.

The case for working in schools

Repucci, the Rochester superintendent, cited the commitment and the rewards that come with working in schools.

"Schools are a point of service industry and not one where most people can work from home," Repucci said. "But school districts are great places to work. We are a supportive environment, offering tuition reimbursement, and a great opportunity to work with kids."

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Seacoast schools struggle to hire. Rochester to hold job fairs.