Peoria Public Schools plugging some holes in its staffing as the summer comes to an end.
The district currently has about 40 vacant teaching positions. Many of these are in fields like special education, math, science and bilingual education.
Peter Kobak is the human resources recruiter for Peoria Public Schools. He said there are fewer people entering the profession as more teachers are leaving.
“We’re seeing that while the supply is shrinking, the demand is growing. So that’s one of the reasons we have the high number of vacancies. And it’s really not unique to Peoria, but we’re doing all that we can to make sure every student comes to school every day and has a full-time teacher in the classroom," he said.
But for those hard-to-fill positions, there’s another urgent need.
“We’re also facing a shortage of substitute teachers. So if we can’t fill a full-time vacancy or before we do, we have amazing substitute teachers fill in," Kobak.
He said the positions require a bachelor’s degree, but not necessarily in education. The job pays $130 a day, or $180 a day if the position lasts longer than ten consecutive days.
Kobak said substitute teaching can be a great first step into an education career. The district also needs new bus drivers, substitutes, aides, social workers and more.
A job fair is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow at Woodruff Career and Technical Center. Find more details at psd150.org/employment.
