Civil Municipal Magazine - Nov 2023

181 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 skills they are acquiring in high school. “We hold a career fair in April for students who aren’t sure what they want to do,” he says. “We usually have over 100 businesses show up to offer jobs on the spot for students who are looking for career advancement in programs that interest them.” Outside-of-the-Box Approach to Staffing Challenges In addressing the teacher shortages being experienced throughout the country, the district recognized the need to think beyond conventional recruitment methods and adopted a more business-oriented strategy. By using platforms like Indeed and Handshake, they effectively showcased the district as an appealing place to work. “Over the past three years, we have done a great deal with salaries and incentives to entice people to stay in the school district,” Dr. Daugherty notes. “But we also were thinking outside the box.” This thinking sets Chesterfield CHESTERFI ELD COUNT Y PUBL IC SCHOOL SYSTEM County Public Schools apart and has brought forward some unconventional pathways for talent acquisition. This year, the district hired 30 teachers from other countries through Participate Learning, diversified its workforce through a career switcher program and enlisted over 200 individuals looking to transition into education careers. “We have over 99% fill rate in our teaching areas. And even our bus driver shortage has calmed down quite a bit just because of the incentives that we’ve offered. We’ve been very fortunate to staff our buildings this year, so we’re excited about that,” he says. Innovative Communication Strategies and Valuable Partnerships Chief of Communications and Community Engagement Shawn Smith explains the district’s approach to communication: “For our school division, we try to over- communicate with our families. We want to ensure that they have all the information