Lee County launches ‘Project Believe’ and follow-up ‘Project Thrive’ to put certified teachers in every classroom on day one

Project Believe, Lee County School District’s concentrated summer hiring effort, cut instructional vacancies from 575 on April 24 to 84 as of July 24 and aims to ensure every classroom has a certified teacher on day one, school HR leaders told the board July 29.

Dr. Shannon Johnston, who led the presentation, said Project Believe was not “just about filling positions” but about rethinking recruitment, certification and support systems so “every student begins the year with a certified teacher. No exceptions.” She credited HR operations, talent acquisition and school leaders for the work and said the district opened its hiring pipeline earlier this year, on May 1, which helped process more candidates sooner.

Amanda Mason, assistant director of talent acquisition, and HR staff described tactics that produced the reductions. Mason said the district used multi-channel recruiting (LinkedIn, Indeed, virtual and in-person events), earlier processing so candidates received decisions sooner, a “talent search” list distributed after spring fairs, targeted outreach, virtual certification information sessions and a recruitment toolkit for school administrative assistants. She said 47 schools had zero vacancies as of the most recent weekly snapshot and 69 schools had zero or one vacancy. “We have 47 schools that have 0 vacancies as of last Thursday,” Johnston said; Mason and staff rang celebratory bells to mark the milestone at the workshop.

Johnston and Mason described retention measures the district will emphasize before and after school starts. Those include principal-led onboarding and “keep‑warm” practices (regular contact and orientation), handwritten welcome notes, school-level outreach, a teacher incentive initiative targeted at higher-risk schools, an adjunct one‑year certificate for otherwise eligible teachers who lack some recertification steps, and expansion of international teacher recruitment (55 new international teachers this year). Johnston said Project Thrive, to begin after Aug. 11, will “flip the switch” from recruitment to retention: “Project Thrive is about retention. We have to have just as much attention on retention as we did on recruitment.”

The board and superintendent asked staff to return with regular updates. Johnston told the board principals of schools with remaining vacancies must submit mitigation plans by Aug. 1 that identify temporary assignments and accountability measures; Mason said the district had a contingency agreement with a staffing agency (Kelly Services) as plan B, but expected to avoid that step because of the number of internal certified staff available.

Discussion at the dais emphasized school leadership and data. Board members praised HR and principals’ collaboration and asked for continued transparency on which schools still had vacancies and how mitigation plans would work. Several board members and the superintendent stressed that retention and improved school leadership are essential complements to recruiting.

No board vote was taken; staff said recruitment and retention work will continue and regular updates will be provided to the board.

Ending: The district’s HR leaders characterized Project Believe as a “system” change—earlier hiring, many site-level recruitment activities and more rapid processing—followed by Project Thrive, a retention program focused on school leadership, targeted supports and teacher experience. Board members asked for follow-up reports and invited HR to brief them again after the opening weeks of school.