Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools to host career fair, teaching webinar to fill vacancies

There are 271 teacher vacancies in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school district. 

Interim Chief Human Resources Officer Leslie Alexander says that's about 70 more vacancies than last year.

Alexander gave a breakdown of the open positions during a Board of Education meeting on June 28.

Of the 271 vacancies, 94 are in elementary classrooms. Roughly 96 are in middle school classrooms and about 75 vacancies are for high school classrooms. There are also six openings in non-traditional classrooms.

Alexander said the district is looking to hire more than just teachers. 

There are openings for about 50 bus drivers, 132 kitchen assistants and 77 teacher's assistants. Last year, the district only had 48 vacancies for teacher's assistants.

“Our TAs, we have a few more of those this year, so we need to recruit there,” Alexander said of those vacancies. 

She said the district has been working on recruitment through social media campaigns, marketing at DMV hubs and bus stops, and local events. The most recent event drew more than 300 candidates. 

“The last recruitment fair was digital or virtual, and that was last week. So we have double the numbers this year than we did the year before,” Alexander said. “So we're hoping that we'll start to see some of those candidates being processed in the upcoming week.”

Several other recruitment events are scheduled for the coming weeks. 

The district will host a webinar on July 7 about alternative pathways to teaching. 

The following week, on July 14, it will host a career fair for operations roles in schools. That event will be held at the gym in Reynolds High School between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. 

Those who attend will be able to speak with hiring managers from different school system departments including child nutrition, maintenance and transportation. 

More information can be found on the school district's website.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.