San Bernardino City Unified School District looks to make teacher hiring spree
While thousands of teachers face the looming threat of layoffs across California, one Inland Empire school district is looking to make an employment trend in the opposite direction.
San Bernardino City Unified School District recently held a teacher recruitment fair, where they hired 40 teachers on the spot. They're hopeful to keep things moving in the same direction, filling classrooms with educators that apply passion to the rewarding profession.
"We're hiring for special education teachers, math teachers, chemistry teachers, fine arts," said Mauricio Arellano, the district's superintendent.
The hiring comes at a time with the California Teachers Association says that more than 1,900 teachers statewide are on the chopping block of tentative layoffs, a number nearly 10 times higher than the last two years.
They say that more development in the area and more people moving to the Inland Empire, they've opted to invest more in their teachers, while other districts prepare to let go of staff for budget shortfalls, higher costs and declining enrollment rates.
"If you want to be a teacher and you come to San Bernardino, you're gonna be successful here, because there's a lot of support," Arellano said.
Claire Reyes is one of the many currently benefitting from a career with the district where she works as a student teacher at Northpark Elementary School, where she went to kindergarten.
"They don't just care about the grades, they care about your well-being, how you're doing," Reyes said. "I was like, 'I wanna go back to where I began,' because it's a very homey feeling. Everyone really cares about you."
District officials pride themselves on just that.
"You get a chance to do three things: Make a difference on a daily basis, give back to our community and our families and make a positive impact," said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Marcus Funchess.
