HOUSTON — The Houston Independent School District has 386 teacher vacancies, according to Superintendent Millard House II.
The first day of school is Aug. 23.
House said the district has developed and is implementing "a bold plan to ensure that every student begins the school year with a certified teacher in all core content areas."
House said the district would do the following:
- Work with principals to ensure that campus-based staff that hold teacher certifications are placed in classrooms until a high-quality teacher is hired.
- The district will deploy about 250 central office staff members with teacher certifications to all campuses that have teacher vacancies that they cannot fill. These employees will also remain in the classroom until a high-quality teacher is hired.
According to the HISD website, in January of last year, the district had 11,621 teachers employed.
"We will be deploying these individuals to campuses this Friday so that they can plan and prepare for the first day of school," House said in an email sent out Tuesday night. "I don't want any of our students to begin the school year with a permanent substitute or non-educator in a core content area."
House also announced a virtual academy for students who need to quarantine. The academy will cover core content for all grades and will be taught by about 80 teacher-certified instructors from HISD's central office.
"Given the detrimental effect that COVID has had on student learning, it is critical that our students have access to quality instruction," House said in the letter. "I am confident that this plan will go a long way in helping us accomplish this."
House did a live question and answer session with KHOU 11 Anchor Mia Gradney on Monday. Check out that video below or on the KHOU 11 YouTube page.
