Public commenters and district officials told the Nantucket School Committee the island's housing market continues to constrain recruitment of qualified school employees, particularly for specialized positions.

Parent Rose Rosales told the committee, "those issues are mostly, contributed to by housing and our housing market on Nantucket." The committee then heard a hiring update from Superintendent Dr. Hallett, who said the district had hired 16 of 24 open teaching positions and still had eight unfilled roles, most in special services. "The majority of them are, special services, areas with 2 special ed, teachers, 1 social worker, another social worker tier 3 adjustment counselor, at the high school, school psychologist, and a speech and language pathologist," Hallett said.

Committee members and public speakers said difficulty securing housing deters candidates from relocating to the island. Rose Rosales urged a multi-pronged approach — advertising, rental outreach and, ultimately, larger housing projects — to attract and retain teachers. "We need to plead because that is what we need to do. We need to plead because we are dire," she said.

A parent, Mary Lehi, raised a related instructional concern: she criticized the district for having no certified Orton–Gillingham instructors in early grades for students with dyslexia and questioned administrative priorities. "We should have a couple of [dyslexia-trained instructors], and we still don't have that," Lehi said, adding that reading instruction should be a top priority.

District administrators said they are advertising aggressively, working with regional partners such as the Cape Cod Collaborative, and continuing to recruit for teacher assistants, special education staff, and school psychologists. The superintendent said the district has filled some support roles and will continue to pursue candidates and housing assistance for new hires.

Officials also noted non-teaching roles remain in flux: "As for teaching assistants, ESPs, and custodians and grounds people, we are in need of approximately 7 to 10 TAs across the district," Hallett said. The committee did not take a vote on housing policy at the meeting but listed hiring and housing as continuing priorities for summer planning.

The committee will continue outreach to regional collaborators and said it will pursue strategies to improve the attractiveness of island employment for educators.