Oklahoma Schools Trying To Fill Positions During Staff Shortage

Oklahoma school districts are struggling with unprecedented staffing shortages. Job openings include teachers, bus drivers, class aids, janitors, administration, and more.

As students go back to class this month, school leaders across green country say they are desperately trying to fill open staffing positions.

Having the ample amount of staffing in schools is an issue across Oklahoma. In Green Country, we are taking a closer look at staffing issues in our larger school districts.

Education leaders like Rusty Stecker with Broken Arrow Public Schools said they have spent the summer recruiting and getting the word out about their open teaching and support staff positions, but many are still coming up short.

“We do want to be 100 percent staffed, we are looking for that trying to find solutions and for the future looking at the shortages to get ahead of the curve,” Stecker said.

Out of seven bigger districts, Tulsa Public Schools comes up with the most openings.

Tulsa: 380

Broken Arrow: 80

Union: 59

Jenks: 51

Owasso: 15

Sand Springs: 12

Bixby: 9

These figures are provided by leaders in each district. They reflect the estimated amount of positions open in each district at the given time. The openings include teachers, janitors, bus drivers, special education staff, administration/office, teacher’s aids, and more.

District leaders said they are able to open and operate smoothly on their scheduled start dates without those open positions filled, but in some cases it means current staff will be picking up extra duties at times.

Jenks Public School’s Human Resources Officer Dana Ezell said they are still hiring but will move forward into the new school year prepared.

“We want to be fully staffed, but right now its all hands on deck, everyone is pitching in to get school off the ground for our students,” Ezell said.

TPS Superintendent Dr. Deborah Gist said in an interview from early August the staffing shortage in Oklahoma is at “catastrophic levels and she fears it may only continue to get worse” as more people leave the education industry.

Some districts such as Jenks are offering hiring incentives like signing bonuses for new hires as they try to fill positions before the fall semester.

If you are interested in open positions within the mentioned districts, see the links below.

Tulsa: https://www.tulsaschools.org/careers/job-opportunities-updated

Broken Arrow: https://www.baschools.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/Human%20Resources%7CJob%20Opportunities

Union: https://unionps.org/careers

Jenks: https://www.jenksps.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/Careers

Owasso: https://www.applitrack.com/owasso/onlineapp/

Sand Springs: https://sandsprings.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx

Bixby: https://www.bixbyps.org/page/employment