Baltimore City is again short on school teachers, less than a month before the first day of classes. For the second year in a row, Baltimore City is scrambling to hire new teachers. A job fair is scheduled Thursday to recruit more educators. The Office of Human Capital is preparing for what it hopes will be an influx of new applicants.

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Baltimore City is again short on school teachers, less than a month before the first day of classes.For the second year in a row, Baltimore City is scrambling to hire new teachers. A job fair is scheduled Thursday to recruit more educators.The Office of Human Capital is preparing for what it hopes will be an influx of new applicants."We are about 98 percent staffed," said DeRay Mckesson, interim head of human capital at Baltimore City Public Schools.It's the other 2 percent that has city school officials worried. Despite a big jobs fair held a year ago, the district still came up short."There will always be turnover in the district because people retire, people choose to work other places. Our goal is to make sure we are staffed for all those situations. So we'll always be hiring, and we'll always be recruiting to make sure every kid has a great teacher," Mckesson said.Baltimore City is looking to fill some its most-critical teaching positions for subject like mathematics, English, special education, foreign language and career technology education.Amanda Rice, principal at Waverly Elementary-Middle School, said she'll be looking beyond the resume for the right fit."I'm looking for people who are willing to sacrifice for our kids, who are willing to bring extra to our students. It's not about the nine-to-five day. It's what you are going to do after school and before school to really bond and make relationships with our kids," Rice said.The push for more teachers is one of the top priorities of the city's new school CEO, Sonja Santelises, who was hired in the spring.Jimmy Gittings, president of the Baltimore City Public School Administrators and Supervisors Association, said he's confident Santelises will deal with the staffing issues."A CEO has to come in and make changes, and I have to respect that, but those changes need to be beneficial to our students, teachers and our administrators," Gittings said.District officials said they are also in desperate need of substitute teachers.The job fair is scheduled for Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Excel Academy at the Francis M. Wood High School complex on West Saratoga Street. Tap here for more information about the job fair.Get the WBAL-TV News App