As new year begins, Rappahannock schools are fully staffed amid statewide teacher shortage

While school districts across the state are experiencing crippling staffing shortages, Rappahannock County Public School Superintendent Dr. Shannon Grimsley said RCPS is completely staffed heading into the upcoming school year, which begins on Thursday.

Grimsley said RCPS, which is significantly smaller than other school systems in the region, had 22 vacancies heading into this summer. She attributes

their success lling those positions to principals attending recruitment fairs and a grant received from the Path Foundation to provide incentives for new teachers. She said recruitment fairs are typically held at colleges or convention centers, where they send a team to network and share information about RCPS.

“We also really renewed our recruitment e orts to widen our pool and involved our building leaders a whole lot more in that recruiting, and so our principals were the ones actually going to these recruitment fairs and we cast a wider net, both to focus on diversifying the applicant pool as well as letting them see who they're going to be working for the leaders of the building,” Grimsley said.

The Path grant, called the Teacher Wellness grant, is being used to cover moving expenses for new sta , the cost to commute and to provide hiring bonuses. The grant is also providing tuition reimbursement and student loan forgiveness for new sta .

Grimsley said this grant made a difference in closing hard-to- ll vacancies compared to years past. She said for some applicants, the sign-on bonuses and other bene ts made the di erence as to whether or not they would accept the position.

“Those things really made a big difference because a lot of schools don't have that regular funding in their federal and state, but because of the generosity of this community, we were able to do that with our teacher wellness grant,” she said.

Grimsley said some of the hard-to ll positions included a social worker, special education instructors and English, math and other general education teachers. Those positions at RCPS have since been lled.

In larger nearby school districts, like Fairfax and Spotsylvania counties, schools are facing signi cant sta ng shortages heading into the 2022-2023 school year. A representative from the Virginia Education Association told Virginia Public Radio that sta ng shortages at public schools are a result of low pay for teachers, a shortage of support sta and lasting employment impacts from the pandemic.

There are more than 1,000 vacancies at Richmond area schools that include instructional, support and administrative positions. Superintendents in these districts, including Fairfax and Spotsylvania, have called these vacancies “severe.”

Grimsley said she also attributes focusing on workplace culture as a reason why RCPS was able to become fully sta ed. She said those attending recruitment fairs on behalf of RCPS were able to speak to the district’s “family” dynamic, encouraging new teachers and sta to apply and, in some cases, to relocate to Rappahannock County.

“It appears that our road to remarkable planning is working and we're just so thrilled with the caliber and expertise and experience of our new folks coming in and we're thrilled to start this new year fully sta ed,” Grimsley said.