Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is still looking for teachers and bus drivers less than a week before students return to class. But CMS has fewer vacancies than it had last summer. CMS has 293 teacher jobs left to fill. That’s a vacancy rate of about 3% — and well below the 516 vacancies CMS had at this time last year.
District leaders say they’ll cover gaps by temporarily combining classes or relying on North Carolina’s virtual lessons. During a press conference Tuesday, Superintendent Crystal Hill said each school had to create a plan for dealing with vacancies, given that shortages are playing out across the state.
“We’ve come to grips with there will be a teacher shortage. This is not going away. It probably will get worse before it gets better,” Hill said.
CMS has 38 bus driver vacancies, or nearly 5% of the district’s bus fleet. This time last year it had more than double that number. Hill says new hires are in the pipeline, with all driver jobs expected to be filled by Thanksgiving.
“We also utilize any other staff that have a bus license. So it’s not ideal, but our executive director, Adam Johnson, runs several stops if necessary until we’re able to onboard,” Hill said.
Monday will be the first day of school for CMS, Union County and almost three-quarters of North Carolina school districts.
