Growing Kershaw County schools recruit teachers at annual career fair

Dozens of teachers searching for jobs in the growing Kershaw County school district brought their resumes and best first impressions to the district’s career fair Saturday.

Four Midlands school districts hosted teacher recruitment events this weekend, competing for what Kershaw County superintendent Frank Morgan said is a relatively small pool of prospective teachers being produced in South Carolina.

“The key to good instruction is good teachers,” Morgan said. “There is a shortage of teachers. ... South Carolina’s not producing enough teachers, plain and simple.”

Morgan’s district recruits heavily from northern states, especially in the Pennsylvania area, which produces a great deal of teachers, he said. But many teachers who move from the north are likely to leave the district within a few years to return to their hometowns, Morgan said. And it can be difficult to compete with higher teacher salaries offered in other regions.

Regardless of where prospective teachers are from, Morgan wants to assure them that Kershaw is a good fit.

“This county supports their schools. We’re going to help you be successful.”

Between 100 and 120 applicants were expected at Kershaw’s recruitment fair at Lugoff-Elgin Middle School. Doby Mill Elementary School principal Virginia Catoe said she typically collects 30 to 40 resumes in which she is interested. Catoe and school administrators across the district will schedule follow-up interviews with the candidates that meet their needs.

“When I hire a teacher, I’m looking for somebody who loves the job, who loves not just the day-to-day work but the after hours, too,” Catoe said. “You truly have to be married to this profession.”

English, math and science teachers at the middle and high school levels are among the most needed in the district, which grows by more than 100 students each year, Morgan said.

There’s also a great need for special education teachers, Morgan said.

Anna Moser might be the kind of candidate for whom Kershaw County schools are looking. A fourth-year special education teacher currently working in the Lexington-Richland 5 district, Moser and her husband are planning to relocate closer to their families, and she’s searching for a job in Kershaw or eastern Richland County, she said.

Her key to interviewing for teaching positions, she said, is “just being honest about your experience and not being shy about what you don’t know.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 7:28 PM with the headline "Growing Kershaw County schools recruit teachers at annual career fair."