CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is looking to fill 300 teaching positions before the start of next school year.
CMS held its annual CMS Teacher Job Fair Saturday to attract more educators.
The district is looking to fill positions across grade levels and subjects, but officials said they have a critical need for math, science and special education positions.
CMS officials said they expect openings to pop up over the summer.
"This is about the number that we would anticipate each year," said Rakeda Leaks with CMS. "You have to account every year for people who have retired, as I mentioned earlier, people who are relocating, individuals that have decided that teaching is not a good fit for them."
This time last year, CMS was looking to hire 400 teachers.
The job fair comes days after the superintendent revealed proposed home school boundary changes in part of the student assignment plan.
CMS Superintendent Ann Clark said it will need to hire even more teachers down the road once the boundary changes go into effect.
The need for teachers come in part from new schools opening in the fall of 2017, and new magnet programs, which were approved under Phase One of the Student Assignment plan.
More changes are coming to the district under Phase Two with new proposed home school boundaries, countywide.
"We're going to have the same number of students or more so we're actually going to need to hire more teachers," Clark said.
That growth and job opportunity is what drew these teaching candidates to the job fair, hoping for one of the open positions.
"CMS, I think is ahead of a lot of other districts in terms of technology," said Mary Hughes, a candidate. "They are still growing leaps and bounds."