District reports fewer than 30 school-based teacher vacancies at opening; 159 teachers on approved leave

Chief Human Resources Officer Holly McGee told the Buffalo Board of Education on Sept. 3 that the district had 3,216.5 school-based BTF (teacher) positions as of Sept. 3 and 29.17 of those positions were unencumbered and needed to be filled.

McGee said the vacancy figure excludes about 200 staff who serve in non–school-based roles such as curriculum specialists or TOSA positions and that the district was “less than 1% not staffed for our BTF school based positions.” She told the board that, in addition to those vacancies, about 159 teachers were on approved leaves as of the start of school and that principals and colleagues felt the impact of those leaves.

To cover approved leaves, HR said it is using three approaches: assigning a certified replacement teacher in the same tenure area when possible; tapping certified teachers who do not currently have a school-based vacancy; and using substitute teachers. McGee said the district had about a 74% substitute fill rate on the first days of school and described the result as “pretty good,” adding that “even with teachers being on leave, we’re less…