Recruitment Fair Attracts Educators From Across Country to 21st Annual S.C. Teacher Expo

May 31, 2009

ROCK HILL, SC – May 28, 2009 –  There are still teaching positions to be filled, according to an online teacher vacancy database maintained by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement (CERRA) in Rock Hill.

And many of the more than 300 vacancies will be filled Monday, June 1, at the 21st annual South Carolina Teacher Expo co-hosted by CERRA and the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA).

Registration for the event has reached an all-time high as more than 2,000 jobseekers from 43 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico plan to be at the event held at the Cantey Building on the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia. Teacher Expo will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. Free walk-in registration begins at 9 a.m.

More than 1,300 registered participants indicated that they have active teacher licensure in their respective state, including 743 from South Carolina.

Organizers are expecting 40 school districts, or less than half of the state’s districts, to be on hand Monday to interview candidates for current and anticipated vacancies. CERRA’s job bank, which presents a statewide picture of vacancies by district and subject area, shows the greatest need remains in math, science, and special education, as approximately 42 percent of the vacancies hail from those three areas.

Representatives from the South Carolina Department of Education will be on-site to field questions concerning Palmetto Priority Schools, the Program for Alternative Certification of Excellence (PACE) and teacher certification. They will be joined by other vendors such as the South Carolina Election Commission, Teachers-Teachers.com, Valic, South Carolina Connections Academy, Grand Canyon University and University of Phoenix.   

CERRA, an independent state agency located on the campus of Winthrop University, is the oldest and most established teacher recruitment program in the country. The purpose of CERRA is to provide leadership in identifying, attracting, placing and retaining well-qualified individuals for the teaching profession in South Carolina. CERRA’s programs have been adopted at school, district and state levels in more than 30 states in the United States.