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As the nation's eleventh largest school district, Dallas Independent School District serves more than 160,000 students who come from homes where 58 different languages are spoken.  Operating with a $1 billion dollar budget, DISD employs 18,613 employees including 10,000 teachers in 220 schools.

DISD Teacher Recruitment Efforts

14 Aug 2001

DISD TEACHER RECRUITMENT EFFORTS PRODUCING FEWEST OPENING-DAY VACANCIES IN THE PAST DECADE

Fewer Than 100 Vacancies Remain 24 Hours Before Schools Open In Dallas

DALLAS—Following a series of summer job fairs and an aggressive campaign to recruit new, well-paid teachers to the Dallas Independent School District, General Superintendent Mike Moses on Tuesday said the district will begin classes this week with the fewest remaining teacher vacancies in the past decade.

"Human Resource Services reports that we will have less than 100 vacancies in teacher positions at our 218 schools when we open our doors on Wednesday, and that is a great tribute to the work we have done to recruit hard-working, dedicated teachers to the district," Moses said. "This is the best DISD has done in recruiting teachers in at least 10 years, and it shows our efforts to make teacher recruitment a priority are beginning to pay off."

Moses said that as of 9 a.m. Tuesday, only 93 vacancies remained for teaching positions in the district. He said he anticipated that number to drop even more before the 2001-02 school year begins Wednesday morning.

Moses also saluted the efforts of the district to fill special education teacher positions, saying that as of Tuesday morning, only eight slots remained unfilled.

"Our personnel staff has done an outstanding job of recruiting teachers for our special education, math and science positions," Moses said. "In fact, only eight slots remain open for special education positions and four for math. While neighboring states such as Oklahoma have been in the news this past weekend about their shortages of these skilled instructors, we have been successful in our efforts to hire good people to work in these important disciplines."

Moses said he is receiving daily reports from the DISD Human Resource Services division and will keep a close eye on staffing throughout the next week.

"It's very important that we attract good people to fill these teaching positions, and we have done a great job already," Moses said. "Of course, our goal is to get as close to 100 percent staffing as possible. We have come a long way in our efforts, and it is going to make a difference when schools open on Wednesday."

During the summer months, Moses said the DISD had held 6 job fairs and had made more than 60 visits to colleges in Texas and surrounding states to recruit new teachers to the district.

Those interested in applying for teaching positions may view opening positions listed on the district website, dallasisd.org, or by calling Human Resource services at 972-925-4200 or 1-800-443-6181.