First Day Back is in the Books

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Thursday was the first day back at school for the nearly 40,000 students and 4,000 teachers and employees of Williamson County Schools.

The Source stopped in Westhaven right before the end of the day at Pearre Creek Elementary, one of the 44 schools back in action for WCS Thursday.

“We had a great first day,” Pearre Creek Principal Dr. Stephanie God said. “It is exciting to start another year.”

While school is back in session, the district still needs employees to fill remaining open positions.

From high school chemistry teachers to bus drivers, a number of positions are still open, Dr. Leigh Webb, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, said.

“Most of our current openings are hard to fill positions, such as support services,” she said.

Overall, the district needs to fill 57 certified positions, most of which are teaching jobs.

The specific needs of WCS for certified personnel are most pressing in: chemistry, math, Spanish, language arts; also school psychologists.

In classified personnel, Webb said their needs are greatest in: teacher assistant, before-and-after-school workers in the SACC program, in addition to substitute teachers and bus drivers. Currently the district employs 240 bus drivers for 238 routes, but Superintendent Dr. Mike Looney said that bus drivers are one of the hardest positions to keep filled, and that it is a need across the state, not just WCS.