More than 15,000 employees and an expected student enrollment of 113,613 make the Cobb County School District the largest employer in Cobb, the second largest school district in the state and 24th largest in the nation.
With headquarters in Marietta, the Cobb County School District has a variety of positions but not all as teachers. Here's what you need to know to land a position no matter your interest.
>>RELATED: How you can still become a teacher with Fulton County Schools
Salary and benefits
Of the $986 million budget, 91 percent is comprised of salaries and benefits. Benefits include medical, dental and vision insurance; health spending accounts; retirement; deferred compensation plans; U.S. bonds and life, accidental death and dismemberment, short-term and long-term disability insurance.
More benefits are vacations; holidays; transportation, parking and MARTA benefits; employee discounts; employee credit union; sick leave; legal help plan; long-term care; jury duty pay and direct deposit.
Getting a leg up
Student teachers have an early advantage in Cobb since the district begins hiring in March to get ahead of other school districts in Georgia. This year district officials held two job fairs in the spring. Even earlier, the application window for GA TAPP through MRESA is usually in February.
GA TAPP, standing for Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program, is one of two alternative routes to teacher certification in Georgia. The other is the One Year Supervised Practicum Program.
The application process
For teachers, Cobb County accepts applications from candidates who hold or are eligible (completed all requirements, passed all tests by date of employment) for a professional, renewable certificate in Georgia or another state. To teach in a public school in Georgia, a certificate (license) is required by the Georgia Professional Standard Commission, the state's licensing agency.
Cobb County only accepts applications from GA TAPP candidates in the areas of math, science, foreign language and special education. Those candidates must have been accepted into the program and completed the "Essentials of Effective Teaching" course.
Cobb will accept applications from candidates for the One Year Supervised Practicum in those same areas and then in other subject areas only on an as-needed basis. Also, Cobb County will accept applications from candidates who hold or are eligible for a nonrenewable (provisional) certificate only in the areas of special education, math and science, foreign language and in other areas only on an as-needed basis.
To be considered for possible vacancies, special education candidates must submit their passing GACE I scores or documentation verifying exemption and present a letter of acceptance from a Professional Standard Commission approved college or university verifying acceptance into a special education program. Math and science candidates must submit their passing GACE I scores or documentation verifying exemption and have achieved a passing score on the GACE content test in the area for which they are seeking employment.
Only online applications are accepted. The Cobb Human Resources Office does not provide application status updates by phone. Confirmation of application receipt will be sent by email once the application has been submitted successfully.
The interview process
When a vacancy occurs, the hiring administrator selects applicants from among the qualified persons and conducts interviews. Applicants are interviewed in the school/division where the vacancy exists. After the interviews, the administrator makes an employment recommendation to human resources.
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