GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — We are just weeks away from the next school year, and Gwinnett County Schools are welcoming more than a thousand new teachers.
Many of them attended orientation earlier this week.
Channel 2’s Wendy Corona looked into how those educators are getting ready for the school year.
In the midst of a nationwide teacher shortage, Gwinnett County Schools have been busy hiring new educators and adding nearly 200 new teaching positions.
On Tuesday, the new hires got the chance to learn about the critical role they’ll play in supporting students on their success journey.
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“This is a good school system to be a part of,” teacher Oint Reed said.
Oint Reed knows this from being a substitute teacher in Gwinnett County Schools and decided this fall would be his entrance to full-time teaching and a new career.
The state’s largest school district held its new teacher orientation Tuesday at Gas South Arena welcoming and motivating its newest educators.
“Right now, we’ve hired 1900 new teachers and we have about 316 vacancies as of today, but we fully expect those vacancies to be filled by the beginning of the year,” Gwinnett Superintendent Bernard Watson said.
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Keynote speaker, John Antonetti inspired the new hires who will be placed in different schools over the next couple of weeks to work with their mentors and leadership teams.
New middle school science teacher, Wes Sheperd says he and his students will likely first connect on a common ground.
“I always tell the students, as nervous as you are for the first day of school, your teachers are more nervous,” Shepherd said. “We’re all in this together, we’re all learning together and we’re going to have a great year.”
The first day of school for Gwinnett County students is August 2.
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