943K Jobs added to US economy, local public school district still seeing staffing shortages
MARYLAND- 943,000 jobs were added to the US economy in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
“The biggest gains no surprise the industries that were hurt the most, leisure and hospitality, followed by education not a surprise since our schools were shut down,” Bill Chambers, CEO and President of the SBY Salisbury Chamber of Commerce, said.
Nationally, this is the biggest job gain since last August.
Dr. John Gaddis, Superintendent of Somerset Public Schools, said they received over 20 million dollars and it’s being used for hiring new grant positions.
” We have really focused on intervention because of the learning loss from the pandemic and we’ve also focused on mental health professionals,” Dr. Gaddis said.
And Chambers said the Wicomico County Public School District is welcoming new teachers.
“Well we are getting ready to welcome a 135 new teachers to Wicomico County, that’s a little bit higher than average,” Chambers said.
But even with hiring happening, Dr. Gaddis said his school district is still struggling to fill some positions.
“So, what’s happened is it’s great we are hiring people for those jobs so yes the jobs have been created but we are having trouble back filling and that goes to a problem we’ve had for awhile now,” Dr. Gaddis said.
I’m told the shortage of teachers impacts classroom numbers, and leaves the district having to come up with creative ways to fill those spots.
“If you cant find teachers you’re going to have 25 and 30 students in a classroom,” Dr. Gaddis said.
“We are having to find some folks who don’t want full time work but have been great long term substitutes for us and putting them into some positions as well,” Dr. Gaddis said.
We’re told to try and fix the problem of shortages, there’s not just one step.
Dr. Gaddis said he thinks they need to start recruiting more locally.
He also added there needs to be more discussion between public school systems and colleges, to get more students to go into the educational field.
