CAMDEN, S.C. — As schools continue to face teacher shortages throughout the state, officials with Kershaw County School District are already working to recruit teachers for the 2023-2024 school year.
The shortage of staff has left some parents nervous about their children's learning but also looking forward to seeing how they address the problem.
"It worries me that my children won't get that individuated attention that they are going to need to make sure they have the best education possible," said concerned parent Morgan Bravo.
Now that the school year is halfway over, Kershaw County is looking ahead to the 2023-2024 school year.
"Once the pandemic hit, it really took a turn for us for the worst," said Director of Educator Services Dr. Lisa Shannon.
"For the upcoming school year, we sent out our letter of intent in January. So, for right now, and it's mostly retirement or teachers moving for military reasons, we're right under 30, right at 30 for teacher vacancies anticipated for next year," Shannon said. "But I am happy to say our superintendent is allowing our principals to go ahead and start filling those vacancies. Sometimes in the past, we've had to hold tight a little bit and wait on enrollment projections, but our principals are able to fill those and they are moving right along."
The district has almost 10 new strategies to fill those spots, from bringing back retired teachers to offering a $2,000 signing bonus for an entire school year of teaching, as well as expanding their teacher mentor program.
"Our retired teachers are usually pretty good about coming back and helping us out, and either returning as a working retiree or even helping if we are in binds for long-term substitutes," Shannon said. "We also use them to be mentors to help some of our new teachers so they continue in the field and don't burn out or give up in a year or two."
Parents like Bravo hope they not only focus on recruitment but also retention.
Other districts such as Richland One say there are 98 classroom teacher openings. In Lexington 3, they have 12 teacher vacancies from elementary to high school to substitutes to tutors.