School staff vacancies swell, Sarasota and Manatee districts seek hundreds of new hires

Record high staff shortages in Sarasota and Manatee counties from a surge of COVID-19 cases have district officials scrambling to staff classrooms, cafeterias and buses. 

It is so dire in Sarasota, educators are asking parents to consider taking up vacant substitute teacher jobs or drive buses.

The Sarasota schools district has nearly 60 advertised openings, including 33 non-instructional positions. In Manatee, there are 80 openings for bus drivers alone and more than 100 vacancies in the foodservice department.  

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The local woes mirror a sharp rise in statewide school vacancies and come as the Manatee County school district and teachers union negotiate a new contract.

“This is a lot for us,” Manatee's Deputy Superintendent Doug Wagner said of the openings. “We absolutely need substitute teachers ... We want to be fully, 100% staffed.” 

In Manatee, salaries have been a contributing factor to the shortages in the classrooms, officials say. A new contract for teachers and non-instructional staff slated to be finalized soon will increase wages for current and new hires that work in custodial, transportation, food service and operations.  

Wagner said hiring was down even before the omicron variant, but district officials have paused their weekly job fairs due to the latest COVID surge.  

Wagner isn’t the only person working to fill open positions in schools. 

The Florida Education Association said there are 5,222 advertised non-instructional positions open across the state – not counting Miami-Dade County.

In total, there are 850 teacher aides, 1,100 exceptional student education paraprofessionals, and 300 English for speakers of other languages paraprofessionals openings in Florida.

More than 60 Florida counties are seeking bus drivers, custodians, skilled tradesmen and food services workers.  

Seeking substitutes in Sarasota classrooms 

Substitute teacher positions typically shrink as the school year wears on. But this year, open positions have increased in Sarasota schools, mirroring the statewide rise in vacancies.   

Schools spokeswoman Kelsey Whealy says the district is making efforts to recruit parents to fill in at schools as the shortages continue. 

“Our areas of need include classified positions like bus drivers, custodians, and food and nutrition workers, as well as instructional positions like classroom teachers and program specialists,” Whealy said. “These needs have increased in the time during and since the pandemic.” 

Rates for all instructional substitute positions in Sarasota County vary based on education level. However, substitute teachers earn a minimum of $105 to $152 daily.  

The district's bus driver shortage also is being felt as parents experience delays in bus routes throughout the school year. According to the district’s transportation department, last week alone 70 drivers and bus aides were out, causing drop-off delays of some local students.  

“Our route supervisors, our director of transportation, and additional transportation administrators have been assisting on bus routes on an almost daily basis to help ease the strain on schedules,” Whealy said.

To help with the slew of vacancies, the Sarasota school district has scheduled a transportation hiring event on Feb. 4. Driver positions will start at $15.67 an hour.  

Samantha Gholar covers news for the Herald-Tribune and USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at sgholar@gannett.com or on Twitter: @samanthagweires