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Superintendent: district expects to fill several teacher openings; dual enrollment praised and VPK applications growing
Summary
At the June 24 meeting Superintendent Dr. Bennett reported the district expects to fill 5'6 teacher openings in the coming days and possibly 12'15 hires by July, praised dual enrollment efforts and said VPK applications are "anywhere over 40 some, 40 50 range" for 62 available slots.
Superintendent Dr. Bennett told the DeSoto School Board on June 24, 2025, that the district anticipates filling 5 to 6 teacher openings in the next few days and could place 12 to 15 teachers by July, with virtual interviews already under way.
"So it it looks like right now we're over the 90% higher rate if everybody comes through, passes clearing and all of those things. And that means we're probably doing, what would you say, maybe 12 to 15 teachers going into July? And we started virtual interviews," Dr. Bennett said during the superintendent's report.
Board members also praised the district's work on dual enrollment (agenda item 11.1). Miss Mott (board member) thanked Dr. Bennett, Dr. Reynolds and other staff for the dual enrollment agreement and said the trustees were focused on student success: "There's a lot that goes into the thought processes behind it and, and making sure that we have student success. We don't want them to get started too early and rush it." Dr. Goodman (board member) noted South Florida State College by name when thanking staff for growing dual-enrollment participation.
During board member comments, Doctor Reynolds (board member) asked about Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) applications; Dr. Bennett replied that the district had "anywhere over 40 some, 40 50 range" of applications for what he described as 62 available spots.
Most remarks were informational or commendatory. No hiring motions or specific approvals tied to the teacher counts, dual enrollment agreement, or VPK enrollment were recorded in the transcript; trustees asked questions and thanked staff for their work.
