Socorro ISD looks to hire new teachers during pandemic

EL PASO, Texas — The Socorro Independent School District is hosting a virtual job fair later this month to fill spots that have been vacated by teachers who left the district in the past year during the pandemic.

According to SISD data obtained by ABC-7, the school district lost 88 teachers from either retirement or separation since July of last year.

The school district does not keep track of why teachers leave or retire so ABC-7 was unable to confirm how many teachers left their job specifically because of coronavirus concerns.

The district indicated that the pandemic had not caused any teacher shortage for their schools. In fact, it said there were similar departure numbers from years past.

“As far as, ‘Has there been anything different,’ no, it still thankfully has been the same,” SISD Director of Human Resources Angelica Herrera said.

For context, the district saw 162 teachers leave from 2019 to 2020, and 179 teachers depart from 2018 to 2019. The current calendar year is not over, so more teachers may decide to leave.

Herrera said the district will be hosting a job fair virtually on Feb. 11, and SISD leaders are looking for applicants that already have their teaching certification.

Herrera noted that applicants she has seen recently are younger; some are still students at UTEP, while others had just graduated in December.