Paulding County officials say schools ready as teachers, staff fill most vacancies before July 29 open houses
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Summary
Superintendent Barnett and HR leaders told the Paulding County Board of Education that the district filled the vast majority of school-year positions, enrolled more than 100 new teachers in orientation and will hold open houses July 29. Board members approved the personnel report and several consent items.
Paulding County School District leaders told the Board of Education on July 22 that staffing and operational preparations are largely complete ahead of next week’s open houses and the start of classes. Superintendent Michael Barnett said open houses will be held Tuesday, July 29, and thanked community sponsors for a summer backpack giveaway that supplied more than 1,200 students with school materials.
The announcements matter because local school staffing issues and supply distribution directly affect the first days of class. Filling positions and getting teachers classroom-ready reduces the risk of schedule disruption and unmet student needs, officials said.
DeCarol Watt, human resources director, told the board that new-teacher orientation welcomed 105 teachers, including 55 who are new to the profession. "We were able to welcome 105 new teachers to Paulding County School District," Watt said. She said the district runs a New Teacher Academy for first-year teachers and continues induction supports after staff begin teaching.
Tiffany Frasier, associate superintendent for teaching and learning, said the district combined leadership pre-planning with its BUILD instructional conference to align goals across grade levels and to emphasize a district graduate profile tied to college, career and life readiness. "We accomplished that by, first of all, bringing in our exemplar graduates," Frasier said, describing a deliberate strategy that starts in elementary school and builds to high school.
Assistant HR remarks included early staffing totals: district buildings and departments hired 181 new staff members this spring and summer, consisting of 98 certified staff and 83 classified staff; 9 certified hires were internal moves from paraprofessional roles; buildings recorded 465 internal transfers and 224 separations (147 certified, 77 classified). Officials cautioned these numbers are preliminary and will be refined during first-quarter reporting.
On vacancies, Watt reported there are zero vacancies for school administration and the district has roughly seven classroom teacher vacancies out of about 2,300 positions. Transportation staffing showed low vacancy counts as well; Watt described seven bus-driver vacancies and some monitor openings, which she called a low percentage for this time of year. She added that school nutrition, nursing and custodial services are sufficiently staffed to begin the year, with substitutes covering some open nutrition positions.
Board members praised the summer work. Board Chairperson [Chair name not specified in transcript] and multiple board members thanked staff for the professional learning conference, the backpack giveaway and school construction work that created additional classrooms. During the meeting the board approved the personnel report and other consent items; motions and vote tallies for those actions are recorded in the meeting record.
Public comment during the meeting included a parent, Don Hunter, who described four children raised in the district and thanked board members and staff for their work in preparing students for college and careers.
Less-critical details included several reminders about traffic and safety on the first days of school; board members urged families to leave early and allow extra time for drop-off and pickup. The next board work session is scheduled for Aug. 5 at 8:30 a.m., the superintendent noted.
