HISD superintended Mike Miles said in a news conference on Tuesday that there are currently 30 vacancies throughout the district. The district said that is significant progress from 2 years ago when HISD started with 600 vacancies at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.
HISD sent KPRC 2 the following statement regarding the vacancies:
“There are zero principal vacancies. The district started the year with 30 teaching vacancies remaining out of roughly 10,640 teaching positions in the district. We’ve been rigorous in evaluating new hires and despite the high bar we’ve set, we’ve had a very successful hiring season because many educators are excited to be a part of the remarkable work taking place at our school. To provide some meaningful context, two years ago, HISD had far more teaching vacancies at this point in the summer. Our team is hard at work hiring for those last few vacancies, which are mostly special education, bilingual, and pre-k, so we can start the school in full force. HISD has hired approximately 850 uncertified teachers for the upcoming school year. We’ve been rigorous in our evaluations, and our successful hiring season reflects the excitement many educators feel about joining the district’s remarkable work. It’s important to note that uncertified teachers can be just as effective as certified ones. Many studies show comparable academic results, and several of our uncertified teachers have prior experience in our schools as Teacher Apprentices and Learning Coaches.”
KPRC 2 Reporter Corley Peel spoke with a parent who said her daughter did not have her assigned teacher on the first day of school at Mark White Elementary. The parent asked to remain anonymous but said her first grader had met the teacher last week.
When she arrived for the first day, a substitute was in the class instead. The parent said the principal told her the teacher was still going through the Human Resources process.
“I was told that this was probably her first-year teaching,” the parent said. “She has great credentials. They vetted her pretty well. They were just getting her through the process of HR and getting her hired so that she can be in the classroom with the students. In my opinion, I think they still needed a couple of weeks to finish preparing everybody.”
The parent was told that her daughter’s classroom should be in the classroom by the end of this week.