BROCKTON — Hanging above Exit 31A along Route 24 in Brockton is a billboard advertising a hiring event at the Fall River Public Schools’ Durfee High School taking place at the end of April.
If you get off the highway at Exit 31A, it takes you straight to Brockton High School in one direction and Stonehill College in the other.
Brockton Public Schools have been in the spotlight recently for turmoil and violence — with teachers warning of a mass exodus if things don’t improve.
That coupled with a national teacher shortage got us wondering if that’s why Fall River’s recruiting billboard was placed in Brockton. If you were wondering, too, here’s what Fall River Public Schools told us.
Fall River has 65-70 open positions
Fall River Public Schools is currently recruiting for roughly 65 to 70 open positions, primarily special education staff, English language learning staff and teachers for science and math at every level.
“Science and math were two areas that have been difficult to fill this year,” said the school district’s Executive Director of Human Resources Tom Coogan.
The Fall River school district added approximately 200 new positions last year, Coogan said, using the influx of money it received from the Student Opportunity Act — the 2019 state law that rewrites the formula the state uses to allocate cash to each city or town’s public school district.
“Over the last several years, we’ve had a bump in our funding because of the change in the state funding formula,” Coogan said. “And with that money we’ve invested in additional positions to support schools.”
“Obviously, this is a very difficult hiring climate, so to add 200 positions at a time when the hiring climate is so challenging, the labor is just not there to back it up,” said Coogan.
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Proximity to Bridgewater State University
Fall River is over 30 miles away from Brockton, a roughly 40-minute drive straight down Route 24.
Coogan said that Brockton was an attractive location to advertise due to its proximity to colleges like Stonehill and Bridgewater State University.
“The main reason is the proximity to Bridgewater,” he said. “Bridgewater State is a significant source of teaching recruits.”
Founded as a school for teachers in 1840, Bridgewater still graduates more teachers than any other college or university in Massachusetts, according to Bridgewater State University’s website.
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Where else does Fall River have billboards?
The billboard in Brockton is one of six billboards in the area currently advertising the hiring event in Fall River and is one of two of these billboards along Route 24. Others are situated along highways going to and from Providence and New Bedford.
“People that are qualified and are able to secure a license, it’s a good time to come into the file because there’s lots of opportunity,” Coogan said.
“I think there’s been sort of a contraction in the labor market as it relates to teachers. And we’ve seen more people leaving the profession,” he said.
“I think some of the challenges that have come up over the last couple years, which have really been unprecedented between COVID and the other stuff, has led some people to reconsider and leave the teaching field,” he said.
“But there’s cycles to these things, there’s an ebb and flow.”
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Brockton also looking to hire
Brockton Public Schools is also struggling with the national and state-wide shortage of teachers and looking to hire more special education and English language learning staff, along with classroom teachers and support staff — similar to the roles Fall River is recruiting for.
The Brockton School Committee recently finalized its proposal for the 2024 Student Opportunity Act, which outlines areas where the district plans to hire more staff over the next three years using that mone. The committee still needs to approve an addendum to the proposal showing how the district plans to use the additional funds it received through the new law.
But Brockton schools are also grappling with a giant budget deficit from last year and projections for more of the same this year and next year, and it’s not clear how those deficits will affect staffing.
