In Pasco County, Brian Feroli was pleasantly surprised when he got an email from the school district about a teaching position.
“I got the link and all of a sudden I got the email back in minutes and I thought, ‘that was fast.’ I’ll confirm that one now,” Feroli said.
He’s one of dozens of people interviewed since Monday in a marathon hiring frenzy in Pasco.
They start school Monday and don’t have all the teaching spots filled.
“At the beginning of this week, we were looking at about 80 or so vacancies. But you know we have over 5,000 teachers, so we’re almost there… but not quite,” said Christine Pejot, with Pasco Schools.
So district officials revisited 700 candidates, like Brian, who for whatever reason didn’t get a job the first time they applied.
“We figure that out of that group, there had to be some people that meet the qualifications that want to make a difference, that want be on our team to provide that world class education.”
Pasco isn’t alone. News Channel 8 called a few districts in the Tampa Bay area and asked about openings. They all reported having shortages.
“The main thing we are doing is we are still hiring and we are still processing,” said Tanya Arja with Hillsborough Schools. “Principals are still out there all this week and they’re still doing interviews and they’re still hiring people.”
