Jul. 21—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Southern Indiana school officials say they are in a strong position for the upcoming school year, but they are still seeking to fill job openings.

Although it was a challenging hiring season, Greater Clark County Schools Superintendent Mark Laughner said the district is in "pretty good shape" in terms of teaching staff.

It is typical to have a few open teaching positions a week before school, particularly as the district faces last minute retirements and resignations, Laughner said.

"We feel like we're ready to go," he said.

Classes will begin Wednesday, July 27 for Greater Clark and Borden-Henryville School Corp. and Thursday, July 28, for Silver Creek School Corp. Classes will begin Monday, Aug. 1 for New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. and Thursday, Aug. 4 for Clarksville Community Schools.

At this point, there are five teaching positions open in Greater Clark, including two elementary teaching positions, two high school science positions and one English Language Learners (ELL) position.

There have been significantly fewer applicants compared to previous years, but Greater Clark "attacked the problem early," according to Laughner.

"There are not many applicants out there, and it's been more challenging this year in terms of finding applicants," he said. "The things you hear across the state and the country about there being a teacher shortage are very real."

The district communicated with institutions such as Indiana University Southeast, University of Louisville and Hanover College to identify candidates, and there were hiring fairs in April and May, Laughner said.

Areas of most need in Greater Clark include substitute teacher and paraeducators, he said, but the district is currently fully staffed in terms of bus drivers and bus monitors.

Aramark, the company that provides Greater Clark's food services, is still looking for some cafeteria employees, and Perfection Group, the company that provides the district's building services, is still looking for custodial positions, Laughner said.

Jeanine Corson, NAFCS human resources director, said the district's No. 1 need is special education positions. There are five open positions for special education teachers, and the majority of the 37 openings for aides are for special education.

There are only three or four openings for other teaching positions, she said.

"When it comes to teachers, the hardest place to fill is special education," Corson said. "There's been some licensing changes at the state level, and it's harder to find those folks. But with teaching, we tend to be able to attract teachers most of the time."

NAFCS has been able to fill bus routes, but the district is "hiring as many substitutes as we can," she said. There are also a few openings for HVAC staff in the facilities department.

Last week, NAFCS held a job fair that brought in about 75 job candidates for various positions across the district. There were at least 18 on-the-spot hires and a number of follow-up interviews, according to Corson.

NAFC will "hire as many qualified candidates as we can to ensure that we're providing safe, nurturing and educational environment for all students who come through our doors," she said.

"I think we're pretty lucky," Corson said. "Even though the economy is tough, and it's a difficult situation for everyone hiring right now, I do believe we have a really good reputation in what we offer."

Corson notes that the job postings on the NAFCS website are not necessarily up-to-date due to lag time, so there are fewer vacancies than indicated on the website.

Silver Creek Superintendent Chad Briggs said the district only has a few vacancies, "but we still have a little work to do." In recent months, the district had about eight to 10 teaching vacancies to fill, but it has been able to fill all but one elementary teaching position and one part-time high school position.

"While we would like to be 100% staffed, I think we could definitely be a lot worse off than we are," he said. "We're in good shape. We're looking forward to kids coming back on campus."

The district still needs to hire a few more custodians and instructional assistants, Briggs said.

Borden-Henryville School Corp. is also seeing strong staffing levels heading into the new school year, according to Superintendent Johnny Budd. At this point, the district still needs some cafeteria workers, custodians and special education paraprofessionals.

The district is also starting to offer On My Way PreK and childcare this school year, and there is a need for certified childcare assistants, he said.

"But other than that, we are actually in really good shape," he said.

Last year, Borden-Henryville was struggling with having enough licensed math and science teachers, and some educators were teaching outside of their subject area, but the situation has improved this year, according to Budd.