New Teachers Help Fill Vacancies At Fairfax County Public Schools

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — While nationwide teacher shortages are affecting schools around the U.S., new teacher hires will help Fairfax County Public Schools start the year on Aug. 22 with new enthusiasm and minimal vacancies.

As of Monday, a Fairfax County Public Schools spokesperson confirmed classrooms are 98 percent staffed. Superintendent Michelle Reid previously said in a message to families the school district continues to fill vacancies and has a plan to address remaining vacancies.

One of the efforts to fill vacancies is hiring teacher residents, who can perform classroom teacher duties under administrator supervision while obtaining a fast-track process for a Virginia teaching license. A teacher resident information event is planned Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. virtually, and a teacher resident hiring event will follow Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. virtually and at the Gatehouse Administration Center.

A recent Washington Post report cited experts attributing the U.S. teacher shortages to burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, pay and a belief that some families and officials do not show support for teachers. While FCPS hasn't been immune to the nationwide teacher shortages, the mostly-staffed classrooms are a result of hundreds of new teacher hires.

One of these new hires is Ava Minutello, an incoming Latin teacher at McLean High School. Minutello, who just received her master's degree in foreign language instruction from the University of Pittsburgh, comes to FCPS with an enthusiasm for teaching and the subject.

A native of Pittsburgh, Minutello has a bachelor's degree in classical languages at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. She started taking Latin in high school and was inspired by other teachers to explore a career in teaching.

"At the end of my graduate program, I knew I wanted to come to the DC Virginia Maryland area, because for classical language learning, this is the place to do it," said Minutello. "There's just Latin, all over buildings, there's Latin all over state mottos. Latin's really, very visually alive here. So I knew that this was a place that I personally grow especially as a new teacher."

When attending the master's program at University of Pittsburgh, professors encouraged Minutello to consider Fairfax County Public Schools due to its support for language teachers. When applying, one thing that stood out to Minutello was the sheer size of FCPS, since she was used to school districts that fed into one high school rather than dozens.

Although Minutello found it intimidating to apply at FCPS, she was encouraged by the "welcoming and supportive people" she met at McLean High School. Minutello said others don't usually show much interest in Latin during her job interviews, but McLean High School Principal Ellen Reilly asked specifics about her approach to Latin instruction.

Even while teacher shortages continue to affect school districts around the U.S. Minutello comes into the teaching profession with a fresh perspective.

"I wasn't there to experience lots of factors that contributed to the shortage," Minutello said. "Without that firsthand experience, I'm just coming into this first year with a different viewpoint than the veteran teachers, and think that I'm feeling optimistic about my position."

She does hope teacher shortages gives pause to others to consider how important the teaching profession is.

As the first day of school approaches on Aug. 22, Minutello believes she can contribute new strategies and technology from her time as a student to teaching. Since Minutello will replace a Latin teacher that left McLean High School, she expects the first few weeks will be focused on learning what students know about Latin and what they enjoy about it.

"I feel very grateful to be a small part of any of their learning journey," Minutello said about teaching high schoolers. "They're just fun, and I love being a facilitator of activities that we can all enjoy being a part of."