22 Aug 2002
District Set To Begin School Monday With Fewest Teacher Vacancies Ever
DALLAS—On Monday, students in the Dallas Independent School District report to school. And for the first time in the district's history, Human Resource Services officials say classrooms in Dallas schools will begin with the fewest vacancies ever—with just 37 positions remaining unfilled as of 2 p.m. Friday and officials working into the weekend.
"Thirty-seven vacancies is a tremendous success for a school district that had almost 100 this time last year," said Associate Superintendent for Human Resource Services Willie Crowder. "We're going to keep working diligently into the weekend to get as close as we can to zero. We have truly come a long way in DISD to be so close to the beginning of the school year and to have so few teacher vacancies remaining."
It has been a busy summer for Human Resource Services. There are more than 10,000 teacher positions in the DISD, a district that has had an unusually high attrition rate due to retirement, turn over, and the number of teachers who leave the profession.
To attack the problem aggressively, the district launched a six-state certified teacher recruitment effort in June. Television commercials and newspaper advertisements appeared in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas throughout the month. And the advertisements had an impact.
"In June of 2001, just one year ago, applications to teach in DISD totaled 179 for the entire month," Crowder said. "As a result of the media program and other recruitment efforts the June 2002 applicants totaled almost 1,100. We had another 900 people apply to work in the district in July and the numbers for August are not all in yet."
Under the leadership of Superintendent Mike Moses, the administration also approved a $36 million pay increase for the district's teachers that was approved unanimously by the board of trustees in late June. As a result, beginning teacher salaries in DISD are at $37,000 and among the highest paid in the state of Texas.
The district also added a series of incentives, stipends and signing bonuses. All DISD teachers also will be receiving a laptop computer over the next 18 months thanks to the budget that was approved 7-0 Thursday night by the district's board of trustees.
"The superintendent and the board of trustees have given us some great tools to use this year to recruit teachers to DISD," Crowder said. "The efforts of the leadership of the district really are paying off and giving us greater flexibility in who we are hiring to teach in Dallas classrooms. In the end this is all going to make a difference in the lives of the children we are here to serve."
As an effort to further reward the certified K-3 teachers who have joined the district this year, Crowder, along with Deputy Superintendent for Human Resource and Security Services Mary Roberts, and other HR staff visited with about 150 teachers throughout the district on Thursday and Friday to present them with a $200 gift card that can be used to purchase school supplies at Dallas retailer "A Teacher's Aide."
All DISD teachers will receive an extra $250 in their September paycheck to help reimburse expenditures for school supplies, but the district's new, certified K-3 teachers got their extra bonus this week.