Week before school starts, CMS looking to fill 75 teaching positions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is starting the school-year in less than a week and officials are still trying to fill dozens of teacher positions.

The district needs 81 teachers, which is up from 75 last week.

"Our greatest areas of need continue to be elementary, K-six, high school math, EC resource and CTE," human resources officer Vincent Smith said.

This has been a problem leading up to the first day of school for years and Eyewitness News anchor Stephanie Maxwell talked to the president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, Erlene Lyde, who said parents need to hold the district accountable.

This is her 36th year teaching and she blames a number of issues, including pay, as the reason turnover continues in the district.

More than 900 teachers left the district during the 2015-16 school year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Lyde said CMS will continue to have numerous vacancies because there's no respect for veteran teachers like her, who are also important to newer teachers.

“Because you have not been helping take care of the veteran teachers who are the ones who support and monitor and nurture, and help retain the younger teachers, then you're seeing a great stress being put on these young teachers,” Lyde said.

If those positions aren't filled, the district will turn to substitute teachers to cover the gap. Lyde said parents should hold district leaders accountable for constantly relying on substitutes.

“Unless they are certified or grounded in the subject area that they're in there for, then I think parents need to be duly concerned because it does affect their children's performance,” she said.

New superintendent Clayton Wilcox said CMS is stepping up recruiting efforts to be ready for the first day.

“We're committed to being fully staffed,” Wilcox said. “We have a significant number of people who are out looking for great teachers every single day.”

Lyde said CMAE is working on securing a grant to reverse the trend of teacher vacancies.

This includes reaching out to early-career teachers to provide professional development.

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