ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — The Orangeburg County School District will offer an additional $5,000 in teacher sign-on bonuses to certified full-time teachers for the new school year. This comes as the district faces 36 teacher vacancies.
“I wish we had known this earlier because I think we could’ve filled a lot of our vacancies. But again we’re looking at a $3,000 signing bonus and an additional five if they teach a critical needs subject," said Chief of Human Resources Ernest Holiday.
Holiday says the bonuses will be funded through a 3-year Leveraging Innovation For Educator Excellence (LIFE2) Grant. A $3,000 sign-on bonus was made available in March to certified full-time teachers who are new to the district.
Up to $8,000 in total is now being given to educators who teach critical need subject areas.
“Pretty much with the state of South Carolina, they are all identified as critical needs but the grant will determine which ones they identify as critical needs," said Holiday.
The grant is offered in partnership with Voorhees University and the Call Me Mister at Claflin University. The grant does not include part-time or substitute teachers. The teachers will need to be hired before September 15.
“Retention is the new recruitment so to speak and so it’s hard to find new teachers so we’re trying to keep the ones we have and so we want to leverage additional opportunities with this grant to provide a retention incentive for those teachers that show that loyalty to us every year," he said.
For more information about teaching opportunities in the Orangeburg County School District, contact Dr. Sharon F. Hampton, coordinator of recruitment and retention at 803-534-5454, ext. 80109, or sharon.hampton@ocsdsc.org. You can also visit the district's website.
