Wake County reports 98.75% teacher fill rate; district prioritizes special‑education and transportation recruitment

Wake County Public School System human resources staff presented staffing and recruitment data to the Wake County Board of Education at the Sept. 16 work session, reporting strong overall hires this year alongside continuing shortages in special education and transportation.

Ajene Manolo, assistant superintendent for human resources, introduced the staffing update and turned the presentation to Christy (senior director for talent acquisition) and Crystal Gregory (director for recruitment). Christy and Gregory described recent recruitment strategies, pipelines and metrics and answered board questions.

Key figures and findings (as reported to the board): - Teacher fill rate: 98.75% for the 2025 school year, equal to about 11,700 teaching positions and roughly 148 vacancies districtwide, a net improvement of about 22 fewer vacancies compared with the previous year. - General education vacancies decreased by 27 compared with the prior year. - Special education vacancies: 66 positions (an increase of 5 compared with the previous year); HR identified sped teachers and sped instructional assistants as priority areas. - Instructional assistants: approximately 116 vacancies, 93 of which are in special education. - Transportation: bus driver vacancies were down by 30 from September the previous year, though the district reported a bus‑driver fill rate near 65% of its ideal staffing level. - New hires since July 1: more than 3,200 employees, including over 2,000 teachers; 149 internal promotions; 61 newly hired international teachers from more than 20 countries (about 240 international teachers working across 41 schools). - Teacher pipelines: the future‑teachers program has hired 95 participants since 2019, with 130 students actively engaged in the program at the time of the update; 136 student teachers were hired into permanent roles this year (about 50 more than last year).

Recruitment strategies and tools discussed: - A refreshed, mobile‑friendly careers site and targeted advertising for hard‑to‑fill roles. - Expanded recruiter staffing that provides candidate care and hiring‑manager liaison functions. - Use of tools in the ASIMS platform described as "talent match," "talent discovery" and "role fit" to identify and convert candidates into hires. - Increased outreach to HBCUs, regional universities and community groups; district job fairs and resume drives; three district job fairs and attendance at 35 college/university recruitment fairs in the past year.

Board members asked about the district's efforts to grow teachers from instructional assistants and college pipelines, the use of exit surveys to analyze departures (noted as newly implemented or improved), and whether onboarding and retention practices offer targeted supports for high‑need schools.

HR leaders described partnerships with universities to reduce barriers for IAs to earn certification and cited master's pay supplements and program partnerships as helpful recruitment incentives. They also said the district is formalizing onboarding: virtual onboarding through ISense and voluntary informational sessions for new hires, with plans to enhance those processes.

Operational priorities: HR identified special‑education staffing and transportation as top recruitment and retention priorities. The board discussed succession planning for senior central‑office roles and asked HR to report on upper‑level vacancy and succession planning in future updates.

Ending: HR staff said they will continue the district's targeted recruitment efforts, deepen successful pipelines and refine onboarding and exit‑survey analysis. The presentation was informational; no formal board vote was taken during the session.