Lexington County School District 1 has hired 258 new teachers for this school year, but it’s unclear if that filled all of the vacancies in the county’s largest school district.

The COVID-19 pandemic left much of the country struggling to find its footing after three years of online and hybrid workspaces. 

Education was one of the most heavily impacted areas in the state, as nearly 16% of South Carolina teachers left the classroom between 2020 and 2021 according to the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement. 

The center also reports that during the 2022-2023 academic year, teacher departures increased by 20%, following a 16% increase the previous year.

Lexington 1, which serves students from the southern shore of Lake Murray to Lexington's southern county line and from the Summit/Gilbert area in the west to the Oak Grove area in the east, didn’t disclose how many teachers resigned in the district. But it has increased its recruitment efforts.

The district currently has 10 cerrified core teacher vacancies, 10 special education vacancies, two school counseling vacancies and 24 bus driver vacancies.

[Online copy corrected.]

Lexington 1 onboarded 287 teachers during the 2022-2023 school year.

This year, Lexington 1 has put several resources into recruitment, encouraging its HR department to recruit from universities state- and nationwide – and even internationally.

Per its annual SC School Report Card for the 2021-22 school year, the latest available for Lexington 1, the district had a total of 2,010 teachers serving 27,653 students (as of the final student headcount for that year listed by the state Department of Education). The year before, the district had a total of 1,959 teachers serving 26,960 students, per the School Report Card and final student headcount for 2020-21.

To compare Lexington 1 to the county’s second-largest district, Lexington-Richland School District 5, that district had 1,281 teachers serving 17,331 students for the 2021-22 school year, per that year’s School Report Card and final student headcount for the district. The year before, the district had 1,332 teachers serving 16,827 students.

“There is no longer a ‘recruiting’ season in public education — we are constantly recruiting individuals to work in our district,” said Libby Roof, spokesperson for the district. 

Though the district has been on a hiring spree this year, the district's annual recruitment fair saw deteriorating numbers from 2016 to 2022. 

The district’s annual recruitment fair saw a precipitous drop between 2016 and 2022, going from more than 400 participants to slightly more than 100, according to a chart shared by Lexington 1. This year, the district reports having attracted 120 participants to the January event.