WCPSS hires more than 950 new teachers for 2008-09
August 22, 2008 - More than 9,250 teachers will be prepared to teach 140,000 students at 157 Wake County Public schools this year. Assistant Superintendent Maurice Boswell and Joan Kister, Senior Director for recruitment and retention, discuss teacher hiring. |
 New teachers take part in employee orientation. |
Listen to Joan Kister talk about 3 minute mp3 file |
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4.5 minute mp3 file |
Teachers for 2008-09
Assistant Superintendent Maurice Boswell says WCPSS has hired more than 950 new teachers for the 2008-09 school year. Boswell said that schools have 21 vacancies as of August 22. Faculties are in place for all schools.
WCPSS Recruits Top Candidates
WCPSS aggressively recruits high quality educators by holding two system-wide job fairs annually and by participating in more than 200 university fairs in 32 states. Recruitment teams consisting of full-time recruiters, school principals and Human Resources administrators actively seek highly qualified teachers throughout the year. WCPSS offered 344 early contracts to prospective candidates in critical needs areas (math, science, special education) and to date 100 percent of the early contract candidates have accepted letters of intent from principals.
WCPSS hosted teacher job fairs that attracted 1,700 certified candidates in the spring and 450 certified candidates in the fall.
Joan Kister, WCPSS Senior Director for recruitment and retention, said that approximately 53 per cent of this year's new teachers are from out-of-state. "WCPSS has developed a nationally renowned reputation that attracts the most talented teachers," said Kister. “On a different note, a positive trend is that Wake County alumni appreciate the education that they have received in the district so much that they are returning to the district to start their teaching careers.”
The Teach-Up grant, a five-year, $2 million grant, is in its second year of implementation. The grant is used by WCPSS Human Resources to develop and expand alternative routes to full state teacher certification; and to recruit and retain qualified paraprofessionals as teachers in high-needs schools.
Teachers Attracted to WCPSS
Nicole Shepard took a job as a counselor at Wendell Middle School moving here from Virginia after hearing about WCPSS.
“I attended the job fair back in April,” said Shepard. “I interviewed with Wendell Middle School administrators and teachers and instantly felt a connection to them. I saw they had the same vision and ideas that I did. I was very happy to be hired with them.”
Josh Harpst took a job as a math teacher at Fuquay-Varina High after visiting Wake County last January.
“I came down here and interviewed with several schools,” said Harpst. “The thing that set Fuquay apart for me was the community. The people were so nice and they had a lot of community involvement in the school. That really attracted me to it.”
Terrance McCotter grew up in Wake County, graduated from Fuquay-Varina High and has taken at job there as a math teacher.
“I was really excited about having the chance and opportunity to come back,” said McCotter. “When I was offered the chance, I jumped on it. I love this area. It’s a great community.”
Recruiting Teachers in Pennsylvania
WCPSS is in the second year of a partnership with Slippery Rock University. During the summer a second cohort of the university’s students completed their student teaching in Wake County’s year-round calendar schools. This innovative approach to teacher recruitment is a no-cost initiative for recruiting certified and highly qualified teachers, particularly in critical needs areas, from one of Pennsylvania ’s top education schools.
In seeking to address the need for special education teachers, WCPSS began a partnership last year with Peace College in Raleigh that offers a teacher education program for dual certification in elementary and special education
After hiring 100 new special education teachers for the 2008-2009 school year, WCPSS will have a total of 1170 special education teachers.
Pre-employment orientation for teachers
When new teachers arrive to begin employment with WCPSS, they take part in a pre-employment orientation. This takes place in the WCPSS Teacher Recruitment Center in Cary.
WCPSS administrators designed orientation to be personal and welcoming. Once new employees complete orientation, they can begin their new jobs without the distractions of making decisions about benefits and completing federal- and state-mandated paperwork.
During orientation, employees receive their employee handbooks and a brief overview of required policies. Teachers and other licensed staff members meet one-on-one with licensure specialists. New teachers are screened for Wake's Beginning Teacher Support Program. All eligible employees sign up for NC's retirement system, plus health and dental insurance. They also learn where to get answers to their questions in the future. Finally, they receive their official WCPSS ID badge.
During the school year, WCPSS holds new employee orientation at least three days a week. In the weeks prior to the new school year, however, multiple sessions are scheduled to accommodate the hundreds of new employees hired to educate Wake's fast-growing student population.
A total of 900 new teachers have participated in orientation for this school year. As of August 22, WCPSS has hosted 1,246 support staff and teachers in pre-employment orientation sessions.
During the 2007-08 school year, 3,300 new employees attended orientation. The goal of the orientation session is to let new teachers and staff know that WCPSS appreciates their decision to work in Wake County.
High quality teachers bring success
WCPSS, NC State University and Wake Education Partnership have worked to establish a Teacher Leadership Academy for teachers to earn a master's degree in school administration. WCPSS supports teachers who seek National Board certification, a difficult process of self-examination, hard work, and testing that a teacher chooses to do in addition to his or her classroom instruction. WCPSS has 1,260 teachers who have earned National Board certification. WCPSS has one of the largest corps of teachers and guidance counselors to earn certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards in the nation.
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