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YOUNGSTOWN -- As the Youngstown City School District finds itself barely a month from the start of a major reconfiguration that was announced in May 2025 and will be launched Sept. 1, efforts continue to fill several dozen teaching and other staffing positions.
"Every year, we have vacancies," Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said after Tuesday's regular board of education meeting at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School. "In Youngstown, right now, we truly have about 30 teaching vacancies."
A sharper spotlight has been trained on hiring especially math and science instructors, along with special-education teachers such as intervention specialists, Batchelor noted. He added that such a situation is a statewide and national challenge, not just a Youngstown problem.
"I'm confident our teams are doing the right things," Batchelor said.
As part of its collective bargaining agreement, the district underwent a recent bidding process to ensure current teachers had first rights to available positions. Currently, school officials have cast their eyes outside of the district for hiring purposes, the superintendent said, adding that most vacancies should be filled in the coming weeks.
During the 45-minute session Tuesday afternoon, Batchelor noted that this year, the school district has 47 "separations," including the 30 teaching positions, which marks the lowest number in about five years. For example, the district had 86 vacancies before the start of the 2021-22 school year, as well as 50 of them prior to the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
Also, the district has a 60% reduction in retirements and resignations, as compared to recent years, Batchelor pointed out. This situation has resulted in the Youngstown City Schools being "a more stable and more attractive place to start a career," he said.
During the meeting, he mentioned several schools and the types and numbers of educators needed at each. For example, the new Youngstown High School, which will occupy the current East High on Bennington Avenue, needs to fill seven spots: five math teachers, one science instructor and an English and language arts teacher. Harding Elementary School is in need of a first-grade teacher, three intervention specialists and a Title I teacher, Batchelor noted.
Both Choffin Career & Technical Center and Youngstown Rayen Early College High School have no vacancies, he said.
Nonteaching spots that have yet to be occupied include 14 educational assistants, four support staff members, two food-service personnel, 10 student support services and a volunteer, according to the district's applitrack.com website.
Also, the district's contract allows for substitute teachers to be brought in as needed, Batchelor said.
During his discussion with the board and attendees, Batchelor took on a pragmatic tone regarding the need to fill the variety of positions about five weeks before the first day of school.
"When I first came into the district office six years ago, we were in desperation mode. … It's July, school starts in September first, let us do our job," he said.
In other business, Batchelor mentioned a Students Overcoming Academic Roadblocks program, which is an early-elementary initiative that operates at Wilson Alternative School. SOAR provides additional support services such as applied behavioral analysis therapies to help certain students "get on the right track," the superintendent noted. He added that instructional assistants are needed for the program.
Specifically, the effort is for students in kindergarten through second grade by referral.