DAVIE, FLA. (WSVN) - Broward County Public Schools held a job fair to hire new employees, just weeks before students make a classroom comeback. More than 1,000 positions are open, and the district is in some serious need of help ahead of the upcoming school year.
The job fair was held Friday at Western High school in Davie.
Lorraine Black attended and cheered with joy, as she was hired on the spot.
“I came here prepared, ready to work, and I got a job,” said Black. “I am very, very happy about that.”
She currently works at night and was searching for a job during the day. She will now be a campus monitor in the upcoming fall.
“They choose the school for you, at the end of the day. Wherever the availability is, they’ll let us know,” said Black.
Allen Ross applied for a counselor position or a job as an administrator.
“I’m waiting for responses, but I did get a couple offers,” said Ross. “It just wasn’t an area I wanted to be in.”
The line to enter the job fair reached outside the school as many waited for their chance to go inside.
“We’ve had a marvelous turn out,” said Broward County Schools Superintendent Vickie Cartwright. “We had over 3,000 people register for today’s job recruitment.”
Broward County Public Schools has more than 1,300 positions to fill.
“There are representatives from every one of our schools looking for a variety of different positions,” said Cartwright, “so not only are we looking for teachers. It can be classroom assistants, it can be teachers assistants, it can be custodians, guidance counselors. But we’re also recruiting for our food and nutrition services, bus drivers.”
“I’m feeling the positive energy and seeing all of the different opportunities that are being filled,” said Donna Korn, “not only knowing that we’ve got that many more people in Broward County who are going to have jobs when they walk away today but knowing that we are going to have so many of those critical positions here in Broward County Schools.”
The school district is hoping to fill these much-needed positions by the start of the school year and hope that voters will renew the referendum coming Aug 23. that will appear on the primaries ballot. If approved, property tax will help pay for many of the positions seen at the job fair.
“It is very important because in that referendum renewal, 75% is designated supplement, so people that we are seeing today’s event, if that referendum is renewed, then they are going to be eligible to receive supplements for their pay,” said Cartwright. “That way individuals who are working in Broward County Public Schools can live in Broward County.”
“As the largest employer in Broward County, this is the type of thing that not only helps our schools and our students, but it helps our entire community,” said Korn.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.