DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County School District is experiencing a hiring boom, but despite the growth, the district continues to expand its recruitment efforts in new strategic and creative ways.
The district created the IGNITE Teacher Residency Program last year, which gave 50 hand-selected recruits free on-the-job training and certification while providing a $30,000 annual living stipend.
"That program alone—in one program—will have 100 teachers by June 2025 who will commit to our district for a total of five years," said Interim HR Chief Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith. "What we're doing is building a pipeline."
The district has hired at least 5,200 new people over the last two years, almost double the number hired the two years prior. However, over 2,500 teachers have left the district in the last four years, with 17% retiring and 74% leaving voluntarily, causing the district to get creative in its efforts.
"When we say voluntary resignation, many of them are leaving the profession altogether," said Dr. Ward-Smith.
Besides monetary incentives, they've started targeting their high schoolers, offering them a path to become paraprofessionals after graduation and even putting up billboards nationwide to reel people in.
"Billboards, we've never done that before this year. We invested in billboards in the Houston area, in Florida, going down I-75 and I-85. We've invested in billboards everywhere," she added.
The district has seen success from the billboard campaign; since Dr. Ward-Smith will retire at the end of June, the school board found her replacement from Houston.
She explained that the district has to work harder than ever to fill the positions, but with the billboard campaign and the residency program, they are expecting more growth.
In December of this year, 50 people will graduate ready to teach math and science. In May, the district hopes to select a third university partner to help train another 50 elementary education teachers.
Last week, the DeKalb County Board of Education approved extending the program with a second cohort that will partner with Kennesaw State University to train special education teachers.
Dr. Ward Smith added, "Over the next three to four years, how teaching retention looks in Dekalb should be fundamentally different."