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CCISD works to fill teaching vacancies ahead of new school year

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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Thousands of students enrolled at Corpus Christi Independent School District are expected back in the classroom on Aug. 9.

This is happening as the district continues its efforts to recruit dozens of teachers.

Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers president Nancy Vera said some classrooms across the city will not have a teacher when school starts.

“When you have these vacancies that means that the students are going to come into school without having a teacher in the classroom, which means they’ll have substitutes or paraprofessionals who are being assigned to these classes which hurts their learning,” said Vera.

CCISD has been actively recruiting and hiring teachers over the past several months to fill the teaching vacancies.

The district hired about 150 teachers for the 2022 - 2023 academic year. As of Monday, the district had 75 vacancies.

“What we’ll see is teachers getting a heavier load, for example in the secondary schools, teachers who teach for example science, they may have to teach several variations of science, whether its freshman, sophomore or junior science,” Vera said.

She added that academic leaders should look into the reasons driving the shortage in order to find solutions that will keep educators in the classroom. In the meantime, teachers preparing to go back here are looking forward to a sense of normalcy.

“Looking forward to meeting all my new students, and seeing the growth that they will achieve throughout the entire year," said elementary teacher Bianca Alvarado.

CCISD officials told KRIS that interviewing and hiring are taking place daily.