The signs of a slightly recovering economy can be seen in local public education as metro Atlanta districts prepare for classes to resume. Enrollment is growing in some districts, and so are job opportunities.
Districts are seeking to fill hundreds of jobs for teachers that are still available even as the last month of summer vacation dwindles for kids. Districts that have been laying off staff or saddling them with pay cuts are now beefing up thinning ranks in a wave of hiring that will continue through Labor Day. The news is especially good for math, science and special education teachers, who are traditionally in demand.
“This year is a definite improvement over last year,” said Gwen Benson, associate dean of school and community partnership at Georgia State University. “We produce annually approximately 500 teachers. The majority of our graduates have gotten contracts.”
The number of teachers statewide is slowly rebounding as positions increase due to growing enrollment, attrition, special initiatives and circumstances such as the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. Between January and May, the number of k-12 public educators in Georgia rose by more than 2,000, from 252,900 to more than 255,000, according to the Georgia Department of Labor. It is still hundreds behind the levels of previous years and was in May at its lowest point since 2006.
Erin Blinck is among the success stories. The graduate student was one of nine to participate in a GSU math residency program last school year. Seven received employment contracts from school districts. Blinck was quickly hired by the Cobb County School District, where she worked as a student teacher. In August, she will teach freshman math at Campbell High School in Smyrna.
“I am one of the few lucky ones that was able to find a job early in the summer,” she said. “Most of my peers are having to wait until schools figure out their enrollment.”
Still waiting for luck is Jason Kormos, who stood in line half an hour Friday to talk to recruiters for Gwinnett County Public Schools at a teacher job fair at the Clarkston campus of Georgia Perimeter College.
The 30-year-old Kennesaw man has many qualifications: He’s experienced, having been a substitute teacher for two years; he’s got a graduate teaching degree with a sought-after concentration in math; and he’s passed the necessary state teaching tests. He’s even created a 12-page color brochure containing his resume, references, work samples and teaching reviews.
“When they see this, they know I’m serious,” he said. By “they” he means the principals who do the hiring. Though he’s sent “tons” of applications and hand-delivered countless brochure-resumes, it’s easy to count the result of his effort: two interviews, zero job offers.
“Every principal I’ve talked to so far, they all love me. They all say I’m going to get a job, if not here then somewhere,” he said. “Nothing’s come through so far.”
Kormos didn’t get good news when he reached the end of the Gwinnett line Friday. The recruiter only needed teachers in French, behavioral science and special education.
Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district, has made more than 300 recent hires. It welcomed its new teachers, some who joined the district late in the past school year, at an orientation Monday.
“Hiring is a year-round event,” Gwinnett spokesman Jorge Quintana said. Like most school systems, Gwinnett is always looking for math, science and special education teachers. Even if there are no jobs in those areas, he said, people leave throughout the school year. They retire, they go on maternity leave, they get jobs elsewhere or they just quit.
Gwinnett expects this fall to add 1,700 students, for a total of 162,450. The district has hired most of the 541 teachers needed for the new school year, Quintana said.
Other metro Atlanta districts are in various stages of hiring. Some jobs won’t be filled until after Labor Day enrollment funding counts.
Although metro Atlanta systems are facing budget cuts, many have abandoned the “crisis mode” they adopted two years ago as the economy faltered, said Angela Palm, the policy director for the Georgia School Boards Association. “Boards are looking at the economic situation as less of an emergency. ... Some of them bit the bullet and did what they had to do last year or the year before, and as a result they are now able to look at what they have and what they need.”
Fulton County Schools is hiring 400 teachers — 50 more than last school year. The DeKalb County School System is adding 300 to 350 teachers, up from 270 last year.
Cobb is hiring 400 teachers mostly due to attrition. The district hired 286 for the beginning of last school year after cutting more than 500 full-time and 400 part-time teaching positions in 2010, district spokesman Jay Dillon said. Of the 540 full-time teachers laid off, more than 250 were hired back, he said.
Calvine Rollins, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said the improving climate should allow other teachers to return. “We are certainly hoping that those that were laid off or furloughed will be called back first,” she said.
Deborah Welch has 25 to 30 applications on file in several metro Atlanta school districts, but she still hasn’t found work. The former paralegal returned to school in 2005. She attended Georgia Perimeter College, and her professor there, Beryle Baker, calls her a “star student.” She proceeded to Georgia State University for a graduate teaching degree obtained in December.
Since then, no response to her applications.
She still yearns to teach and won’t stop looking. Her daughter motivates her. She entered the profession with only an undergraduate degree about five years ago. Back then, teaching jobs were easier to come by. Welch jokes about the tough job climate with her daughter:
“I told her, I’m going to be like her when I grow up.”
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