FCPS reports vacancies but says turnover has edged down ahead of 2025–26 school year

Mrs. Gamble, who presented the staffing update to the Frederick County Public Schools Personnel Committee, said the district had 52 general-education vacancies and 14 special-education vacancies as of Aug. 1, 2025.

The update, delivered at the committee meeting on Aug. 11, also listed other professional staffing shortages and nine administrator vacancies and broke teacher openings down by content area; Mrs. Gamble noted elementary positions were the most numerous in the teacher vacancy breakdown.

"We have 52 general education vacancies, 14 special education, which is down from last year," Mrs. Gamble said while walking the committee through vacancy charts and year-over-year comparisons.

Why it matters: Board members pressed officials about the district’s ability to start the school year fully staffed. Ms. Rinker, who discussed contracted staffing and hiring progress, said the district had filled many roles with contracted staff and pending offers — 16 of 18 pending offers had been accepted as of Aug. 1 — and that all bus routes are covered despite three current vacancies because drivers in training are queued up.

Officials also described recruitment and retention work underway to reduce vacancies further. Ms. Rinker cited a five-person apprenticeship pipeline for elementary teachers that she said came after Dr. Hummer signed an apprenticeship agreement, and she noted partnerships with James Madison University, George Mason University and Laurel Ridge to expand candidate pipelines.

On turnover, Ms. Rinker told the committee that the district’s staff turnover rate has declined from fiscal year 2023 to 12.01% and described the voluntary separation form and exit-interview process used to capture reasons employees leave. The district distinguishes primary, secondary and tertiary reasons on its surveys and also offers exit interviews.

"Since fiscal year 23, we have been trending down to have our overall turnover rate of 12.01%," Ms. Rinker said, adding that even small percentage changes translate into substantial differences across the district’s thousands of employees.

Board members asked for additional detail. Mr. Sturdivant requested multi-year comparisons and a breakdown showing which schools saw departures; officials agreed to provide those data. The committee also asked for subject- and grade-level details about long-term substitutes covering vacancies so trustees could evaluate instructional coverage.

Officials flagged instructional assistants as a continuing challenge: 24 instructional-assistant vacancies were reported overall, with 17 designated as special-instructional-assistant roles that are particularly hard to fill.

What comes next: Staff said they will supply the board with requested school-level departure counts and the subject areas covered by long-term substitutes, continue Grow Your Own pathway work, expand university partnerships and run a "vacancy of the week" recruitment campaign ahead of the school year. No formal policy actions or votes were taken on staffing items at the meeting.