LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Several school districts across Central Florida, including Lake County, are hoping to get results when it comes to filling open positions ahead of the new school year.
Several Central Florida school districts have more than 100 positions open ahead of the new school year. Lake County Schools held its districtwide job fair on Wednesday.
Dozens of hopeful applicants spent Wednesday morning searching for a new job with Lake County Schools. One job-seeker, Christine Tarrant, told us she’s hoping to snag a position teaching kindergarten.
“I just got a love for it,” Tarrant said. “I like teaching kids because they get excited when they learn new things.”
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While she loves the job, she said it does come with its challenges.
“There are a lot of openings because unfortunately, a lot of people are leaving this career because you know, sometimes it causes stress,” Tarrant said.
Lake County currently has 82 teaching positions they’re hoping to fill, but the total number of district-wide positions is 167. However, a few of those spots were filled Wednesday morning. Within the first hour of the job fair, three people were hired, Stephanie Horvat is one of those new hires.
Horvat said she was brought on as an ESE paraprofessional.
“It’s a very rewarding career and I mean at the end of the day, it’s all about the kids,” Horvat said. “It’s all about the children.”
Horvat recognizes working in education can be stressful too. She said she is saddened by the number of open positions across the board.
“Our children are suffering because of it,” Horvat said. “You know, teachers are overworked, they’re overwhelmed. Well, they’re tired. They’re spending their own money in the classrooms. I mean, I see it every day. So it’s sad.”
Lake County Schools Recruitment Partner, Quiana Peterson, said the district is working hard to recruit new employees and retrain the ones already working for Lake County Schools.
“We’ve actually been focusing on retention and engagement a lot, trying to affect all the different groups, not just teachers, our bus drivers, our teacher assistants, trying to make sure that they feel heard, that they see our presence,” Peterson said. “We’ve made an effort this year to actually make sure that we visit all the bus slots, you know, and so forth.”
For a list of open positions with Lake County Schools, click here.
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