Durham Schools Seek Dozens of Teachers, Assistants
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Public schools in Durham are struggling to fill positions, especially in specialized education areas, extracurricular programs, and support staff roles. How’s that affecting the quality of education and student support services in your school?
Southpoint Access analyzed the open positions on the Durham Public Schools careers website and found dozens of available jobs, with 64 of them dedicated to working with exceptional children and 42 of them in elementary schools.
Certain schools have a high number of vacancies, including:
- Carrington Middle School: 18.
- Shepard Middle School: 14.
- Riverside High School: 13.
Hope Valley Elementary School lists six openings, including a full-time media coordinator, two full-time certified teachers, and classified employees who work with exceptional children and provide sign-language interpretation and spoken-language facilitation.
Lowe’s Grove Middle School is looking for four EC teachers and an assistant, an AIG coordinator, and teachers for math, chorus, and science.
Rogers-Herr Middle School needs EC teachers and an instructional assistant, as well as ELA teachers and a math teacher.
Hillside High School has 10 openings, including EC teachers, a technical theater instructor, and an ROTC teacher.
Jordan High School also lists 10 openings for EC teachers, an interventionist, an English teacher, and a science teacher.
What strategies are in place for DPS to attract and retain EC teachers and instructional assistants? District officials noted that DPS has an executive director of talent acquisition and employee recognition who plans job fairs and develops partnerships to help the district recruit new staff. The district also works with universities to recruit non-education majors into alternative tracks for education.
We also asked whether the district offers any incentives or initiatives to recruit certified math and science teachers, particularly at the middle and high school levels.
“At this time, we no longer have monetary incentives, but in our recruitment efforts, we explain the impact prospects will have on students’ lives takes intentionality and relationship-building,” said Crystal Roberts, DPS director of strategic communications. “We also have full-release mentors for first- and second-year teachers to provide coaching and support to ensure their lesson plans are effective and licensing is up to date. Beginning with their third year, they work with Buddy Teachers. DPS also has one of the highest supplements in the state for teachers at $645 per month, or $6,450 per year.”
Durham also has many open classified positions for part-time coaching roles in athletics, and DPS administrators said they prioritize finding internal candidates within the school building before extending the search to the greater district and beyond.
