January 12, 2017
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Rutherford County Schools
Hundreds of teachers are needed in Rutherford County.
The six-month long process of hiring more than 400 new teachers for 2017-18 begins in earnest in February for the Rutherford County Schools human resources department.
This year’s RCS Teacher Recruitment Fair, which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 11, serves as a starting point for the process. The job fair takes place Feb. 11 from 9-11 a.m. in the Blackman High School gymnasium.
Principals from all 47 schools in the district, including the soon-to-open Rocky Fork Middle School, will be on hand along with key administrators — assistant principals, RTI coaches and lead teachers — to meet with and interview prospective teaching candidates.
“This is a great way to interview with multiple (schools) in one stop,” said Leslie Duke, human resources certified analyst for Rutherford County Schools. “There are opportunities available in every K-12 position.”
RCS offers a signing bonus for what have been deemed “hard-to-staff-areas” that include secondary math, physics and chemistry along with English as a Second Language.
First time Rutherford County teachers in areas of math, physics and chemistry can earn a $3,000 signing bonus, while ESL teachers can earn a one-time $1,500 bonus. Another $2,000 bonus is paid for math, physics and chemistry candidates who sign contracts before March 1.
Last year, bonuses were paid to 30 candidates who were hired in hard-to-staff areas, and six of those also earned the early signing bonus for a total of $5,000 each.
“We are happy to offer this incentive to our candidates,” Paula Barnes, assistant superintendent for human resources and student services, said of the bonus structure. “We compete for teachers now. We really do.”
Other areas of high need include special education, foreign languages, and career and technical education.
Positions for the 2017-18 school year will be posted to the RCS website in advance of the ninth annual recruitment fair beginning Feb. 1.
Prior to hosting the annual event, Barnes said there was “an abundance of candidates applying across the state,” many of whom she would meet at career fairs hosted at various universities.
Prior to the 2009 recruitment fair, Barnes conceived the idea of Rutherford County Schools hosting its own hiring event as a way to bring principals and candidates together as opposed to only passing along resumes.
“Our goal is twofold,” Barnes said. “It is to bring the candidates to our principals so that they have an opportunity to meet and have conversations with candidates that are the best fit for their schools and what they’re trying to accomplish. Each principal has unique needs to their building so it’s a great opportunity for principals to be able to meet candidates face to face.
Likewise, the recruitment fair is equally important for the candidates.
“Hopefully that bond is going to result in a recommendation,” Barnes said.
At no other time during the hiring process are candidates afforded an opportunity to meet this many principals from schools throughout the district in a single setting.
Candidates are encouraged to distribute resumes to several schools and administrators and can also talk with coordinators for specialty positions like instructional facilitators, technology, response to intervention, instructional coaching, special education and guidance positions spanning K-12.
“We try to cover all of our bases,” said Duke.
Barnes and Duke will both be on hand at the recruitment fair to facilitate preliminary contracts for those candidates selected by principals as potential teachers for the 2017-2018 school year.
Positions are being sought in all subjects for every grade level K-12.
Last year, 429 teaching positions were filled, including 70 in grades 6-8, 67 in grades 3-5 and 57 in K-2 as well as 65 special education teachers. High school teachers were hired in every area ranging from art and music to intervention and library aids.
“Our (fair) is an open event to any candidate who is interested in teaching in Rutherford County Schools,” Barnes said. “It can be an exciting two hours for our principals and I’m sure the candidates as well because, at one point, we had over 800 candidates attend the recruitment fair.”