Tulsa Public Schools Holds Career Fair To Fill 108 Teaching Positions

Tulsa Public Schools is looking for certified active, retired educators and recent college graduates in an effort to fill 108 teaching positions across the district.

The district said the openings include librarian and counselor positions as well.

The Career Fair ran from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday at Rogers High School at 3909 East 5th Place. Aspiring teachers showed up with their resumes and interviewed with principals at tables around the gym.

Donald Osborne just graduated college, got married and moved to Oklahoma. Now he wants to be a special education teacher, saying he wants to help the kids with the most obstacles.

"I had a lot of stuff that I struggled with right away with, like, reading and like literacy," Osborne said.

He came to the TPS career fair hoping to walk out with a teaching job.

Osborne said he's been keeping tabs on Oklahoma's education problems, but he said it was not to keep him from applying.

"You come in as a teacher, like the state I came from, in South Dakota, they have a lot of the same problems," he said.

School principals interviewed applicants all day hoping to fill their staff for the year.

Rogers principal Nicolette Dennis said Tulsa teachers are paid better than most in our area and have more opportunities.

"If I teach at Rogers for 15 years and I want a new experience and I want to go to McLain, I have that opportunity and I don't have to leave the district and start over," she said.

The start of school is about a month away, but Osborne thinks he'll get a job very soon.

"As long as I stay strong and keep applying places, and, you know, just keep trying," he said.

Administrators said there will also be another hiring event sometime next week.

There is a special emphasis on retired teachers returning to the classroom because of a new state law that went into effect a few weeks ago. That law, with some exceptions, allows retired teachers to earn money that will not impact retirement benefits.

More information about a career in education can be found on the TPS website.