CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — While it may be summer break for many Coastal Bend school districts, Tuloso-Midway Independent School District is heading back to the classroom on Monday.
Staff already went back to prepare for the first day of school. The district previously had some staffing concerns last school year, but school officials said this year has been the best hiring season since the COVID-19 Pandemic.
With more staff going into the school year, they said it will help the district be fully prepared for students. The year-round school year also brings a new experience and challenge for new hires.
"Onboarding new staff members, new teachers, getting their training, going, getting their room set up, getting them everything that they need, so that they feel fully prepared and confident for day one," said T-M ISD Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Dr. John White. "That's part of the adjustment."
Students have been out of class since May. Dr. White said the district worked to normalize school and improve teacher retention since the pandemic.
"Now with another year kind of just away from that, doing a better job at the district level with really kind of strategically planning for hiring and retaining staff," Dr. White said.
About 30-40 new staff were hired for this school year and most are teachers. Dr. White said recruitment both in and out of the district, even outside of Corpus Christi, helped them fill more positions this year than last year.
He said their situation this year allows them to hire staff for specific programs, instead of just making sure they had enough for the first day of class.
"Nothing like what we've experienced in the years past where it definitely felt like it was just a never-ending cycle of trying to find, find that last remaining person that we needed," Dr. White said.
The district also experienced challenges last year finding enough bus drivers. Dr. White said it is still a challenge, but the situation improved this year with all 19 routes having a committed driver.
If needed, they have other employees on staff with CDL certification that can fill-in for bus drivers, which happened last year.
"We're in a better position than we were a year before. We are expecting to have everything filled in all routes with a staff member a driver there," he said.
Dr. White added that the leadership of T-M ISD Superintendent Steve VanMatre helped with staffing. That happened by making sure prospective candidates knew about opportunities in the district and hiring them.
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