HISD to hold two job fairs this week

HOUSTON

The first job fair will be 5 to 7pm Thursday at Gregory-Lincoln Elementary School, 1101 Taft. The fair is designed specifically for the 75 elementary teachers who currently work at McDade, Grimes, Rhoads, and Stevenson elementary schools, which will close at the end of the school year. HISD has 112 elementary school job vacancies and most teachers at these four schools are guaranteed jobs next school year. The remaining positions are open for other prospective teachers.

On Saturday, middle and high school principals from throughout HISD will be at Chavez High School, 8501 Howard, will be on hand between 8am and noon for a job fair to fill 85 job vacancies. The school district is expecting 200 applicants -- both former district employees and new candidates -- to attend.

HISD was required by law to send its layoff notices to teachers by mid-April. Since HISD is a decentralized school district and principals had to make their own decision, more than 700 teachers received notices. Then more teachers notified the district to resign or retire and the district found out it now had more than 200 jobs to fill.

The school district already held a job fair late last month for the displaced teachers, but only 200 of them attended. However, the district still has vacancies from that job fair, so the district now will consider external candidates.

"We're committed to ensuring an effective teacher in every classroom and we know that many high-quality teachers lost their jobs through no fault of their own as a result of the state budget cuts," HISD Chief Human Resources Officer Ann Best said in a prepared statement. "Not all of our displaced teachers hold the required certifications to be eligible for some of our vacancies which is one reason why we will begin giving consideration to external candidates."