BALTIMORE COUNTY — Summer is coming to an end. Students will soon be going back to the classroom.
Still, a lot of schools are doing whatever it can to fill teacher positions.
Baltimore County Schools addressed its teacher shortages at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.
Students in Baltimore County start classes Monday, and as of Tuesday, the public school system still has about 200 positions to fill.
MORE: 'It's a national crisis': Baltimore County Public Schools desperately in need of educators
However, despite the challenges school officials, remain optimistic that they will meet the needs of students.
According to Baltimore County Public Schools, so far, they hired 774 teachers, with an additional 32 in the onboarding process, and they’re still aggressively recruiting.
The district also asked recent retirees to return as full-time or part-time teachers with competitive pay.
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Additionally, interns from nearby colleges will receive compensation for working with the school to help fulfill educational needs.
"The teachers that are there will work very hard with substitutes and teachers who have been transferred to provide everything they can for our students," said Cindy Sexton, President of the Teacher Association of Baltimore County.
Although Sexton is committed to educating children, she believes in order to retain teachers, schools need to understand their value and offer better support.
"We have to find a way to lighten the load," Sexton said. "Every single educator goes home and works after school, weekends, and other jobs where we have a similar amount of education. We don't have that if we go into another career and we’ll make more money."
Some parents are fearful their child's education will be on the line if teachers continue to leave which is why many parents are working together to make sure their children don't slip through the cracks.
"Just make sure that your child is understanding what's going on," parent Simone Volikas said. "It's hard when you're working. It's a tough thing, maybe something that could happen is, parents work with one another. I do that with one of my neighbors when I work or she works. We help one another with our kids."
However, until all positions are filled, school leaders are getting creative.
Ninety-seven Certified Central Office staff have been reassigned to schools in critical need areas, including special education.
Baltimore County Public Schools said that once more staff is hired those who were reassigned will return to their original positions.
The Randallstown Branch of the NAACP is hosting a virtual meeting on August 24 to talk about public safety as well as the state of education in Baltimore County. It starts at 6 p.m. Click here for the Zoom link to the meeting.