MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — (Editor's Note: The video above is from WUSA9's previous reporting on Aug. 8)
As community members gear up for the Montgomery County Public School year, staff will be getting more much-needed support now that their colleagues have increased, according to MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight.
The state's largest school public district has been working hard at hiring new teachers, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused disruptions in all school districts across the state and country.
McKnight confirmed during a COVID-19 briefing for the county Wednesday that the district is now 99% staffed.
"Hiring and recruitment has been a challenge, but I am proud that we were able to figure out exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to implement specific things to address those challenges within MCPS," she said.
In 2021, Montgomery County teachers told WUSA9 that they were pleading for help with the "understaffing crisis," saying it was impacting learning inside local schools.
Montgomery County Education Association President Jennifer Martin and others said at the time that teachers were being forced to help in other understaffed classrooms during their lunch breaks while having to sacrifice time from lesson planning.
"MCPS employees are demoralized, exhausted, and desperate for relief," Martin said on Nov. 9. "On any given day, half the requests for substitute coverage go unanswered. We have come to a point where there is no way our efforts can come close to meeting the needs of the children we serve.”
Earlier this month, the MCEA continued to express its concerns over the school district being short-staffed.
"The increasing strain and burnout among those who remain will make it difficult to provide the excellent education our students deserve," MCEA wrote in its statement at the time. "While we appreciate the commitment to wellness that Dr. McKnight discussed during her press conference, the reality is that to ensure staff wellness, educators must be compensated fairly and treated with dignity."
The association claimed that more than 1,100 teachers left the district in the last year on Aug. 8.
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McKnight said Wednesday that they'll be bringing back more than 160,000 students this year at MCPS, along with new staff positions.
"As we begin the school year, what I can say is that every single classroom will be staffed with a qualified instructor and all schools will have an adequate number of support staff to welcome our students."
A reading specialist will now be in place at every elementary school to address the covid disruption to literacy learning. The district is also instituting a full-time staff development teacher in every school to help teachers feel continually supported.
McKnight encouraged anyone seeking to learn more about what to expect this upcoming school year to watch their first, recorded briefing that went live on Monday.