Albany HR: about 9% vacancy rate, 50 TA openings and new recruitment steps

The district's human‑resources director presented a detailed staffing briefing that described a roughly 9% vacancy rate, persistent teacher and support‑staff vacancies and an especially high shortfall in teaching assistants.

"We have about 50 teaching assistant vacancies — 40 special‑education TAs and 10 general‑ed TAs," the HR presenter told the board, and said that TA vacancies represent about 25% of the district's budgeted TA positions. The presenter added that roughly 30% of teachers are over 50 years old and that typical annual retirement is about 3% but may rise as more staff reach retirement eligibility.

HR announced a mentorship and certification support role (Bridget Dolan named as mentor/coach) to help substitute hires and teaching assistants get certified and reported that a grant will provide coupon codes that cover fingerprinting costs for applicants. The presenter said Schoolfront and Indeed are major recruitment sources, with more than half of applicants arriving via Indeed and 15–20% of job‑fair attendees historically converting to hires.

Board members asked about pathways to convert substitutes and TAs into certified teachers, possible referral incentives, and ways to recruit facilities/maintenance staff. The HR presenter said the district is exploring grant funding for TA certification workshops and working with Columbia University research partners to identify state‑level certification barriers.

HR intends to post a recruiting and retention specialist position in the coming weeks to focus on college partnerships, job‑fair strategy and advertising.