The high school seniors from Polk County Public Schools' education academies will soon head to college to pursue a teaching career.
And once they graduate in a few years, they'll already have a job waiting — from PCPS.
Seniors in the education academies at Bartow, Lake Gibson and Ridge Community high schools recently participated in unique signing day events. These students, who have been learning about the teaching profession during their high school years, have already received conditional offers of employment from PCPS.
As part of the offer, they each will need to successfully earn a college degree and then complete an internship with PCPS, which will include time spent working in classrooms. Once that happens, they will be welcome to join our district as full-time teachers.
“School districts throughout the nation are working hard and using innovative strategies to identify highly qualified teachers now and in the near future,” said Jessica McNemar, PCPS' director of recruitment and teacher engagement. “Our signing day celebrations are meant to honor our local students pursuing education as a career, and inspire them to return as classroom teachers right here in Polk County.”
PCPS intends to host annual signing day events for our education academy seniors. Congratulations to our future educators from the Class of 2023!
PCPS is recruiting teachers for the 2023-24 school year and will host hiring events throughout the summer. For more information, please visit the Polk County Job Fair.
