Dozens Of Salem School Positions Still Unfilled On Eve Of New Year

SALEM, MA — Salem Public Schools is still looking to fill dozens of open positions across the district just days before the start of the new school year.

The district posted 42 job openings during August through Monday with the most recent openings including a high school Spanish teacher, a special education paraprofessional, a middle school science teacher, a high school academic dean, several long-term substitute positions as well as those in nutrition and food services.

The district said it has "signing bonuses as well as other meaningful incentives available." Those include $1,000 for intenstive paraprofessional positions.

There is also a $500 referral bonus for those who refer a successful candidate.

"We are — like a lot of districts — working to fill last-minute positions that we have open," Superintendent Steve Zrike said. "We are still in the process (of doing that).

"If anyone knows of folks that want to come and join the team, and are interested in working in the schools, we do have a fair number of positions."

Zrike said at Monday's School Committee meeting that a another hiring fair will be held for paraprofessionals and food service employees on Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m. at Saltonstall School.

Those interested are asked to reach out to recruitment manager Stacey Johnson a smjohnson@slamek12.org.

The first day of school at Carlton School is on Aug. 29 with all other Grade 1 through 12 students beginning the next day.

"We're working hard to make sure that everything is covered and that we have strong people ready to go in in preparation for the upcoming school year," Zrike said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)