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Sta ng challenges persist in some FBISD roles BY HUNTER MARROW
Some district roles have seen sta ng declines as o cials seek potential solutions—but teaching roles continue increasing. STAFFING CHALLENGES
FORT BEND ISD As districts across the country face sta ng shortages, Fort Bend ISD has maintained its teach- ers—but o cials said other district roles are harder to ll. According to the district, the number of teachers increased from 4,844 during the 2018-19 school year to 5,262 in 2020-21—but substitutes and bus drivers have not seen the same sta ng increases. “Right now we have 120 teacher vacancies, and we have about 50 bus driver vacancies,” FBISD Super- intendent Christie Whitbeck said. “Those are areas where we’re focusing the most. Keep in mind that we have 12,500 employees, so you have to put that into perspective.” The number of FBISD bus drivers has declined since 2018-19 from 386 down to 366 in 2020-21. It joins other areas seeing declines, including child nutrition workers, which saw a one-year drop from 572 employees in 2019-20 down to 535 in 2020-21. Substitute teachers saw a sharp decline in that time period from 1,386 to 1,118. “The shortages are mostly in hard-to- ll jobs,” Whitbeck said. “For example, like in special education, upper-level math and science, some speci c career technology where you need trade skills, those have always been hard to ll.”
CLAIRE SHOOP COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
6K 5K 4K 3K 2K 1K 0
2018 2019 2020
+8.6%
UH to build College of Technology facility at Sugar Land campus The University of Houston College of Technology will move to the Sugar Land campus after the Texas Legislature put $52.4 million toward a second technology building. “This will help all of the UH System universities and instructional sites to improve their respective facilities so that we may continue to expand educational opportunities and launch new programs that meet the changing workforce demands of our regional and state economies,” said Jason Smith, UH vice chancellor for governmental and community relations. The building’s location and timeline for construction are not yet available.
-8.8%
-5%
TEACHERS
BUS DRIVERS
SUBSTITUTES
SOURCE: FORT BEND ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
FBISD continues to search for solutions for its sta ng challenges. “We have some grow-your-own programs to grow our own people—bring them up through the ranks to become teachers,” she said. “We’re working with the universities. We have a strong HR department. ... We had an employee fair. ... We’ll continue with that kind of outreach.”
In this garden, spirits are nourished and the seeds of leadership are planted. Created by the Seabrook Rotaract club and their community partners for neighbors to enjoy, the two-acre garden inspires, connects, and transforms, which is what Rotary members in Houston and around the world do best. Learning by growing — that’s what people of action do. Learnmore at RotaryinHouston.org
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SUGAR LAND MISSOURI CITY EDITION • JANUARY 2022
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