CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Metropolitan School District held a job fair Friday to help them reach their goal of hiring 100 more substitute teachers and staff members.
By midday, 50 people were interviewed by staff members at East Professional Center for four different substitute roles–teacher, paraprofessional, secretary and planning center instructional aides.
Executive Director of Strategic Staffing Laura Mulvaney said they’re looking for people who have worked with kids and have the courage to stand in front of a classroom full of them.
“Through the pandemic, there wasn't a lot of work for substitutes. And so they went and found other work and they found other jobs. And so when we returned, we returned with less substitutes than we have had in the past. And so this is really just catching up and getting us to the point where we have a similar number of substitutes that we did in the past,” said Mulvaney.
To help with the shortage, the Ohio Department of Education is now offering a temporary substitute teaching license which will allow people without a Bachelor’s degree to substitute teach.
Mulvaney said that opens the door for more people who may have what it takes, but not necessarily the paperwork to go along with it.
“There's a lot of people I think that have a long term career goal of teaching and they don't know how to get there. This is a great way to figure out whether teaching is for you without needing to go through four years of college or to get your Master's degree or anything you can come in and substitute teach for us,” said Mulvaney.
CMSD hosts a substitute job fair once every 2 to 3 months and they’re even hiring for next school year.
“We interview all the time. We are always looking for people. If you're not at the point where you're ready to make a career change right now we’ll continue to hire even for next fall. So if you are like, ‘Okay, I need to finish up doing whatever I'm doing but I want to work in September.’ We'll continue working and hiring even now for people next fall,” said Mulvaney.
Anyone interested can apply online here.
Jade Jarvis is a reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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