SLPS reports net gains in certificated staff, outlines recruitment push

LaTerica Williams, interim executive director of human resources for Saint Louis Public Schools, told the board on Feb. 10 that the district has hired and onboarded 201 certified teachers since July 1 and has reduced teacher separations to about 60 since that date.

Williams said the district’s net number of certified teachers rose from roughly 1,100 to 1,213 and reported about 135 school-based vacancies that remain unfilled by permanent SLPS employees (some positions are covered by substitutes or contractors). She said nonteaching vacancies—custodial and other operations roles—have increased and that many special-education support positions remain hard to fill.

Why it matters: The staffing metrics are central to SLPS’s stated priority of improving student outcomes by ensuring classrooms are staffed with certificated teachers. The board pressed for follow-up cost projections and plans to expand program access across neighborhoods.

Williams and recruitment staff outlined three targeted goals: staff classrooms with certificated teachers, improve service to schools, and support and coach school leaders. She described a multi-pronged approach including internal certification pathways, graduate partnerships and international recruitment.

Beth Davey, presenting recruitment and retention strategies, highlighted pathways that move district employees through associate and bachelor degree programs into certificated roles and cited partnerships with the University of Missouri–St. Louis and Saint Louis University for master’s-level pathways. She said the district has added 61 cultural-exchange teachers since 2024 from six countries and will ask the board next month to approve a third year of international recruitment to add up to 20 more teachers from the Caribbean and South America if approved.

Davey also credited the Parsons Blue Memorial Fund (described in the presentation as contributing over $1,000,000 annually) for supporting tuition scholarships used in these pathways. She said the district will offer a hiring fair on March 7 targeting a minimum of 50 on-the-spot offer letters for noncertified support roles.

Board members praised the retention improvements and asked staff to prepare cost estimates for expanding CTE and other site-specific programs to additional schools. HR committed to provide proposed budgets and proposals for broader program access and for estimates on bringing cosmetology/CTE options to other campuses.

Next steps: HR said it will return to the board next month with any formal requests (including the proposed additional year of international recruiting) and with cost projections for proposed program expansions.