Here’s why Modesto City Schools is hiring for more positions this year
Stanislaus County school districts are hiring for a number of positions for the coming school year. Some deadlines are as early as this week.
The openings are due to a combination of staff retirements and state and federal funding to provide additional positions.
Becky Fortuna, public information officer for Modesto City Schools, said the district saw about 160 retirements this year — the highest she’s seen in her 10 years in the position. Usually, about 90 people retire per year, she said.
A survey released in February by the California State Teachers Retirement System noted a significant increase in teacher retirements across the state from 2019 to 2020. Meanwhile, state and federal grants have allowed districts to hire more teachers and expand programs to support students through the academic and socio-emotional effects of the pandemic.
MCS had 1,044 openings through the 2020-21 school year, over 200 more than the previous year, according to numbers provided by Fortuna. The district has an enrollment of about 30,000 students across 22 elementary schools, four junior high schools and seven high schools.
Modesto City Schools received $22 million as part of California’s COVID-19 Relief Package to fund Expanded Learning Opportunities in recovery from the pandemic. The state requires that 10% of these funds are used to hire or extend hours for paraprofessionals, for which MCS is recruiting.
The district also received $35 million from Congress’ Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) Fund. It will use the grant to expand its “Multi-Tiered System of Supports,” or MTSS, to help students recover from the pandemic’s impacts, expand early childhood education, hire an equity intervention specialist and more.
Elsewhere in the county, Riverbank Unified School District used state and federal funding to add positions for the 2021-22 school year, too. Superintendent Christine Facella said they’ve hired 10 teachers to support students as they return to classrooms.
In the Ceres Unified School District, all open positions are based on turnover, said spokeswoman Beth Jimenez.
The district hired 80 instructional staff for the 2021-22 school year. This includes three openings for special education teachers and a preschool teacher. All other positions are filled, Jimenez said.
For the 2020-21 school year, Ceres had a retention rate of 96.9% for certified staff, including administrators, as of June 30.
“Our emphasis over the past several years has really been on making sound hiring decisions, and then providing the support needed for our employees to really grow and thrive,” Jimenez said.
What types of jobs are available?
School district jobs are broken down into classified and certificated categories. Classified jobs do not require a credential. Certificated positions require a credential from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
At Modesto City Schools, 24 certificated positions were posted on the application portal, edjoin.org, as of Monday morning. The district has a large need for paraprofessionals, Fortuna said.
The district also will look for 11 coaches, who will be MCS teachers whose positions will be backfilled, and one coordinator for the MTSS program. MCS is also hiring eight job embedded instructional coaches.
Even new high school graduates can apply to fill some positions. When graduates picked up their diplomas this spring, they also received a flyer for open positions in the district. The district hasn’t tried recruitment like this before, Fortuna said.
Job postings can be found on edjoin.org.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
