Harford will start school year with zero teacher vacancies

Harford County Public Schools has hired for 20 teaching positions since the start of August, filling all teacher vacancies for the new school year, which begins Tuesday.

At the start of August, Harford schools had more than 175 open positions , ranging from teachers and paraeducators to special education bus drivers and attendants.

Since Aug. 1, the system has hired 20 teachers, 14 paraeducators, 16 custodians, two bus drivers and five bus attendants, for a total of 57 hires, according to the system’s Manager of Communications, Jillian Lader.

The school system’s current list of vacancies includes:

• Paraeducators — 36
• Custodians — 25
• Bus drivers — 17
• Bus attendants — 12

Numerous construction projects have been completed prior to the start of the school year. Completed projects include:

• Turf field replacement at C. Milton Wright High School
• Track replacement at Aberdeen High School
• Central plant upgrades at Abingdon Elementary School
• Certain phases of the Harford Technical High School renovation
• Fallston High School professional foods lab
• C. Milton Wright High School childcare lab
• Bel Air High School Classroom Support Program space
• Removal of a fuel tank at Bakerfield Elementary School
• Replacement of the chiller at Bakerfield Elementary School
• Southampton Middle School Strive space
• Churchville Elementary School kindergarten building rooftop unit replacement
• Certain phases of Aberdeen Middle School HVAC system renovation
• Fallston Middle School generator replacement
• Placement of six new relocatable classrooms at Church Creek, Riverside, Magnolia and Emmorton Elementary Schools.

The following projects have yet to be completed: Construction at Homestead/Wakefield Elementary School; Harford Technical High School renovation; and Aberdeen Middle School HVAC system renovation.