OKC Public Schools Working to Fill Teaching Positions

A push is being made to recruit more qualified teachers to Oklahoma City Public Schools. Administrators say they have about 300 vacancies for the next school year.

The Oklahoma City Public School District is the state's largest and there are some unique challenges facing recruiters when trying to get applicants to teach here.

The district also has a huge need for teachers. Right now the district is looking at hiring some 300 teaching positions. US Grant Principal, Clay Vineyard, says finding quality teachers to fill the vacancies is critical to success in the state's largest school district.

Finding 300 qualified applicants is one thing. Bringing them to OKC is a whole other game and it can boil down to the money.

A big need in the district is special education and English language learning, fewer and fewer people are graduating with these degrees. Vineyard says he's now even faced with losing teachers to local companies.

Administrators with the school district say they aren't focused on just filling all of those spots right away, but concerned with finding highly qualified applicants. The district utilizes everything from recruitment fairs to partnerships with area universities to Teach for America to get passionate individuals in the classrooms.