School district gets creative in filling employee gaps

Angela Pruitt likes hiring teachers — partially because she was one, for eight years in Lee County middle school and high schools.

Now chief human resources officer for the school district, Pruitt spends a good portion of her time overseeing teaching recruitment and retention strategies. Like most school districts statewide, there’s a constant shortage of teachers in Lee County, says Pruitt. That’s exacerbated by salaries that in some cases, particularly for entry-level jobs, make it difficult for new teachers to go into the profession. (The Lee County School District base salary for teachers is $40,000; it rises based on additional college degrees. The average teacher salary in 2017-2018, with benefits, is $66,251 for a 196-day, 7.6 hour/day contract, according to school district data.)    

Pruitt says the district hires about 600 teachers a year, mostly to fill retirements, open spots and added classes from Lee County’s population surge. Rather than focus on salary, Pruitt directs her team of four full-time teacher recruiters to emphasize the county’s non-pay benefits — namely quality of life. “Everyone wants to teach at the beach,” she says.