CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The Charleston County School District will welcome back students and a full staff of teachers on Tuesday for the first day of the 2024-2025 school year.
“This is a historic time in CCSD. I don’t recall a time where we were able to open all of our classrooms and they’d be covered by certified folks,” CCSD Superintendent Anita Huggins said during a news conference on Monday.
District leaders shared they were able to fill 547 vacancies posted this year including 82, hard to fill, special education positions.
This news comes on the heels of an $8,000 salary increase and other efforts to recruit and retain educators.
“One of our big initiatives, started in 2018, was our Pathways program. Where we were able to hire folks who had Bachelor’s degrees, who wanted to be teachers but had never gone through a teacher-ed program. So, because of that type of program, we were able to add additional teachers into our pipeline,” explained Bill Briggman, the Chief Human Resources Officer for CCSD.