GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Hiring and retaining staff members has been an issue across a wide variety of industries, and it continues to create difficulties for the schools that educate our nation's children.
Grand Rapids Public Schools held a job fair Wednesday, hoping to hire teachers, custodians, cooks, child care workers, paraprofessionals, public safety and security officers, bus drives and social workers. In all, the district has 300 vacant jobs to fill. District leaders say that number is higher than usual.
"We are ready to gear up this new school year hoping that we can fill up positions before we start school on August 23," said GRPS communications coordinator Javier Cervantes.
This was the district's last job fair before the school year starts, but more will come in the fall. People can still apply online for open positions on the district's website.
Cervantes, who is a graduate of Grand Rapids Public Schools says he's proud to be working to support staff members and students in the district.
"Our scholars deserve the very, very best from all of us. So we want to make sure we have staff who can look like our students who can relate to our students, and be able to be educating the next leaders," he said.
"Having the opportunity to teach to a diverse population makes it so enjoyable every single day. I think it's very cool that we have about 70 countries represented in our district."
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