With a new school year beginning July 20 for thousands of Hawai'i youngsters, the Department of Education says it's ahead of where it was last year in hiring hundreds of teachers for classroom openings.

Slots at several hard-to-fill schools in rural areas such as the Wai'anae Coast and Moloka'i already have been filled, said Gerald Okamoto, assistant superintendent for the Office of Human Resources. And recruiting is ongoing.

Hawai'i's public schools had more than 350 teacher vacancies at the start of the previous school year, and the state has struggled the past several years to find new teachers as competition for educators among schools nationally has increased.

The state's 258 public schools need 1,400 to 1,600 new teachers every year to replace those who retire or leave the system, with additional need in such areas as special education, speech pathology, autism and hearing impairment.

The state is graduating and licensing more than 500 new teachers every year from both public and private colleges — far short of the annual demand — and also losing many of those newly minted educators to the Mainland.

The total number of new hires and the total number of vacancies so far this year was unavailable as of Friday, according to the DOE.

But the DOE said it took an aggressive approach to recruiting this year because of a continuing nationwide teacher shortage. Principals from some of the hard-to-fill areas went on spring recruiting trips, Okamoto said. Another tack was better management of vacancies, including requiring weekly reports from each district.

"Then if there are pukas we have to pay attention to, we can identify them earlier in the process rather than later," he said.

Okamoto already is planning a second round of recruiting trips this summer to fill December vacancies. Traditionally, people retire in June and December, he said.

As the school year begins, Okamoto said a bank of 4,000 substitute teachers will be available.

"We tend to get nervous too soon, and the numbers look like we're not going to make it, but we usually do," said DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen. He said some teachers may be hired as late as September.

Classes in Hawai'i's public schools start in waves with about 150 schools beginning by late July, and another 99 or so by Aug. 23. The 27 charter schools set their own schedules and the four large multitrack schools are on year-round schedules.

HITTING BIG CITIES

The DOE recruiting teams, along with principals from some hard-to-place areas of the state, took 12 to 14 recruiting trips during the past year, hitting such population hubs as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as areas such as upstate New York, where they've been particularly successful in the past, Okamoto said.

"We've had a lot of success at Marist College in upstate New York," Okamoto said. "For a small college we get a lot, maybe five to 15 a year."

Along with Mainland recruiting trips, DOE officials conduct mass interviews in Hawai'i with upcoming graduates.

Maile Bajet, who earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education this year at UH-Manoa, was among those interviewed and received three job offers from Hawai'i schools.

"If you interview well, you get a second interview," said Bajet, who chose 'Aiea Elementary School because her preference is to work with children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who may have learning issues as she did.

Bajet said that as a child she "acted out" to cover the fact she was falling behind. She hopes to help children who may be the same kind of learner she was.

Bajet said it was never a question of whether she would stay in Hawai'i to teach. "I want to stay close to home and help out where we need help the most," she said. "My heart is at home and with the kids here."

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Randy Hitz, dean of the College of Education at UH-Manoa, said placing student teachers in Hawai'i schools during their final two years of college is a powerful recruiting tool, especially for rural schools that may have a harder time attracting teachers. The college students become comfortable working there and the schools get a sense of who fits well, and often recruits from those ranks.

"We believe if they're student-teaching out there, they build a relationship with the other student teachers, the teachers and the kids, and they're more likely to stay out there," he said.

In fact, the college tries to build each cohort of new student teachers — 25 come into the program together as a group — from particular geographic areas, such as the Wai'anae or Leeward coasts.

"The theory is if you attract someone from Wai'anae into the program, the likelihood of them going back into Wai'anae and staying and teaching is much better," Hitz said. "And that's what we're doing.

"Last year, about 40 percent of the new teachers hired were those prepared at Hawai'i institutions."

RETENTION DOWN

The College of Education at UH-Manoa recommended 307 new teachers for licensure this year. The remaining 200 come primarily from Hawai'i Pacific University, Chaminade University of Honolulu and the University of Phoenix.

"Historically it's been about 80 percent that take jobs with the DOE and stay," Hitz said. "And once they do that, it appears the retention rate is pretty good. But in a survey last year of three-year alumni, we had a much smaller than usual number — 55 percent of the class — who were still employed with the DOE."

It's difficult to know where those teachers have gone — into private schools or maybe off to Mainland jobs — but Hitz said the cost of housing and Hawai'i salaries could be affecting the numbers.

This past legislative session, lawmakers gave the College of Education an additional $500,000 to add new faculty as well as 60 new students to the UH program, and Hitz said for the first time this spring the college was able to accept every qualified elementary education student.

But those extra teachers won't graduate for another two years, and that doesn't help the DOE's Okamoto right now. While young teachers being recruited on the Mainland are often excited initially, he said, reality can set in about how far they'll be from home and families, and how high living costs are in other parts of the country.

"The one thing that hits the hardest is the financial situation," he said.

Okamoto said that the best selling point for Hawai'i is the weather, the aloha spirit of his recruiters and the passion for education displayed by his principals.