Want to be a teacher? Taunton is hiring in 'very competitive' job market.

TAUNTON — For the first time since the pandemic hit in 2020, Taunton Public Schools is holding its annual job fair in a "very competitive" jobs market for teachers, Human Resources Executive Director Cheryl Butts said.

“There is a huge demand,” she said.

In addition to teachers, the school department is also looking to hire para-professionals, student monitors, substitute teachers and custodians, she said.

She said the job fair — which will be held at Elizabeth Pole Elementary School on Thursday, March 16 from 4-6 p.m. — is intended to attract applicants from “all fields” and upcoming college graduates.

“We hope they will come to the job fair and start networking with us. We will then have information ready for them when they graduate. Timing is very important,” Butts said.

Butts said it’s hard to know precisely how many positions will be available for the upcoming academic year.

“We can’t plan for who might be retiring or moving into different positions or another school district,” she said.

Butts said the last jobs fair in 2019 attracted more than 100 applicants and they are hoping for the same kind of turn out next month.

"There is nothing like having people in front of you and being able to do on-the-spot interviews,” she said.

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Foreign language, math and special ed teachers in high demand

Butts said the school department is looking to hire foreign language teachers in particular — the high school provides Latin, French, Spanish and Portuguese instruction — as well as math, English as a second language and special education teachers.

“We are competing with all districts to hire teachers in these areas,” she said.

Butts said the starting pay is $51,594 annually for any first-time teaching applicant who has a bachelor’s degree and wants to teach a foreign language course, ESL, math or special education and $54,579, if they have a master's degree — while a veteran teacher from another school district would be paid a salary based on “their education and years of experience.”

“Some fields like social studies are saturated with teachers,” she said. “We’ve almost never had any vacancies for those positions. There is a lot of need for special education teachers in various grades. “

Taunton schools don’t have a lot of teacher vacancies

Butts said Taunton, which has 944 teachers, has been able to fill most teaching positions despite teacher shortages in Massachusetts and nationwide.

“We do extensive work in the human resources department to reach out to many different organizations to diversify our staff and to fill vacancies,” she said.

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Butts said the teaching staff in Taunton has become somewhat more racially diverse during the past nine years.

“We went from having six African American educators in 2014 to 21 African American educators in 2021-2022,” she said.

Taunton seeks substitute teachers

The school department is also looking for substitute teachers, who are paid $115 a day without a license and $135 a day with one, Butts said. And long-term substitute teachers filling an educator’s vacancy for 45 days or more make even more than that.

“We’re always looking for substitutes, especially because of COVID and respiratory flu,” she said.

Taunton seeks para-professionals, student monitors, custodians

Butts said the school department is also looking to hire para-professionals and monitors.

“We are always looking for para-professionals and lunch and recess monitors,” she said. “They are an important part of what we provide for the kids."

"Many of our teachers start as para-professionals and then want to get a teaching license. We will help them with that.”

Butts said the starting salary for a para-professional is $22.27 an hour, while the "premium pay" is $25.61 an hour. The starting hourly pay for recess monitors is $17.29.

The district is also looking to hire substitute custodians, Butts said. Starting pay for a junior substitute custodian is $17.70 an hour while, a "regular custodian" makes $21.38 and hour, she said.

“We are always looking for substitute custodians who help us when regular workers are out or when we need extra help because of snowstorms,” she said.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Want to be a teacher? Taunton is hiring in competitive job market.