By Jaiya Brown, FOX23.com News Staff
GREEN COUNTRY, Okla. — With the first day of school just weeks away, school districts across Green Country are still trying to fill open positions, even after a summer of stepped-up recruiting.
District leaders said the bigger issue goes beyond needing to get classrooms and campuses staffed for this year. They said the main goal is to find long-term solutions to Oklahoma’s ongoing teacher and support staff shortages.
As the start of the school year approaches, Tulsa Public Schools said it still has 34 open positions.
Broken Arrow Public Schools reported 17 vacancies and Jenks Public Schools said it has five positions left to fill.
District leaders said they invested more into recruitment this year by hosting additional hiring events, expanding outreach efforts with new training programs and looking for new ways to expand retention efforts.
Still, the same challenges remain.
Support staff positions, such as bus drivers, paraprofessionals and cafeteria workers, continue to be among the hardest jobs to fill, while special education teachers remain one of the most in-demand classroom positions.
When asked what long-term changes are needed to address Oklahoma’s ongoing teacher and support staff shortages—rather than rushing to fill vacancies year to year—leaders from each district offered different perspectives, but all agreed lasting solutions will take more than annual hiring pushes.
Rob Loeber, the Executive Director of Communications at Jenks Public Schools, said, “I think sometimes we get into a little bit of a cycle of ‘public education is failing’ or we focus on the negative instead of focusing on that positive. I just hope that as we move forward, we can continue to focus on [how] we’re so glad that these districts exist. They’re such a crucial part of our communities. Let’s rally around them to support them because they make a difference for so many kids.”
In Tulsa, Jennifer Sanders, the Director of Recruitment for TPS, shared, “The more we can incentivize teachers into bringing their talents into Oklahoma and then also incentivize those that are staying in Oklahoma, [that] would be a great way in keeping teachers in the profession and in Oklahoma.”
Lindsay Drake, the Director of Human Resources at Broken Arrow Public Schools, explained, “I think really at the end of the day, our teachers want to feel supported, not even just at the state level, but within the district. They want to feel as if their administrators support them. They want to feel that they have team around them, support above them. Yes, I do think pay makes a big difference for sure, but I think the support is always something that we hear that would keep them in the role regardless of the pay.”
District leaders said they’ll continue hiring up until the first day of school.
If positions remain vacant, they said long-term substitutes or other teachers may have to step in to fill roles.
Job applications for each district are available below by clicking on the name of the district:
