MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- With just two weeks to go before the 2013-2014 school year begins, the Milwaukee Public School District is racing to fill vacant teaching positions.
With resumes in hand, over a thousand hopefuls flooded an MPS recruitment event in March, during which MPS was looking to fill about 400 positions.
Dr. Karen Jackson says so far, about 90% of teachers and paraprofessionals needed were hired.
"We have 40 positions that need to be filled because we have had good response from all the initiatives. We continue to do interviews. We are part of something called 'We Can' which is the state recruiting system," Dr. Jackson said.
Between offering a salary incentive and reaching out nationally and internationally, the district says it was able to chose from an exceptional pool of candidates.
"They bring a whole lot of enthusiasm and one of the things I did hear is strong commitment to MPS. They want to be here for MPS and they want to make a difference," Dr. Jackson said.
Bob Peterson, the President of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association says he is looking forward to helping the new hires assimilate and succeed.
I welcome the new teachers in their new role as part of the Milwaukee family. We provide professional support. We offer free events and classes for our members to help new teachers to learn how to survive and thrive also, they have to do a professional development plan," Peterson said.
Hiring is an ongoing process, but Dr. Jackson says she is confident staff will be up to speed and ready to go when most students return to school on Tuesday, September 3rd.
"We continue to work faster and harder and I think we`ll be there fully staffed. I know parents are worried about that. We will be fully staffed. There will not be larger classrooms. They will be the classrooms that are budgeted for," Dr. Jackson said.
Dr. Jackson says MPS hasn't had to hire a large amount of teachers like this in about 10 years -- and it doesn't anticipate these numbers again.
School officials believe in the future, there will be more regular departures because this year there were lots of retirements and resignations.