By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy (D), and several other top county officials, recently gathered to announce significant reductions in teacher vacancies.
According to county officials, teacher vacancies within the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) system decreased by 52 percent, from about 900 to 434, at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Since then, the county’s vacancies have dropped by approximately 35 percent to 282, according to Dr. Dana Edwards, the new chief of human resources for PGCPS.
Statewide, Maryland officials have announced a nearly 50 percent decrease in teacher vacancies. According to Braveboy, Prince George’s County, Md., is seeing the largest decrease across the state.
“Right before I was officially sworn in, we were going through great turmoil in our school system, between our teachers and the administration of the school system, over the new teacher contract,” Braveboy said. “Unfortunately, at the time, there was a stalemate. Coming in, I stressed that we would have a unified government. One of the responsibilities of our new interim superintendent was to reach consensus.”
Dr. Shawn Joseph, interim school superintendent, was appointed June 13, 2025.
Braveboy said one of the first acts Joseph executed in the role was resolving areas of tension and ensuring a contract that would put Prince George’s County in a strong position for recruitment and retention.
“As a result of the work of our school board, our superintendent and our teachers, we were able to do just that,” she said.
Braveboy also credited the work of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), who committed to helping federal workers displaced by mass layoffs in 2025 choose careers in education. About 25,000 federal employees living in Maryland were fired during the 47th president’s first year in office.
She further credited the county’s ability to create an “attractive” package for new teachers and those seeking advancement within the school system.
“When vacancies persist, students lose instructional continuity, educators are overextended and principals are forced to manage crises instead of leading schools,” said Joseph. “Reducing vacancies restored consistency for students, strengthened school culture and allowed educators to focus on what matters, which is teaching and learning. This progress reflects intentional action, strong recruitment, faster hiring, improved onboarding and a clear focus on hard to staff schools.”
Joseph said one of his initial efforts to reduce teacher vacancies was implementing a dashboard to clearly track and manage staffing issues across the school system.
“For too long, we had too many vacancies in our most vulnerable schools,” Joseph said. “By putting a dashboard up and monitoring it closely, we were able to fill positions with strong candidates.”
The announcement comes as PGCPS continues to serve a majority Black student population. About 51.3 percent of students educated by the district during the 2024-2025 school year were Black.
According to a Maryland State Board of Education educator workforce report from Feb. 25, 2025, about 21.4 percent of teachers during the 2024-2025 school year were Black. This is an increase from 18.9 percent in the 2020-2021 school year.
Edwards also announced that recruitment for the 2026-2027 school year opened Jan. 15, months earlier than in previous years.
“Our staff in the school system [is] our crown jewel,” said Edwards. “We will continue to improve the candidates’ as well as the managers’ hiring experience, so that every teacher, every staff member who applies here feels respected and valued from day one.”
The district currently employs about 22,000 staff, including roughly 10,000 teachers, and is seeking to add about 1,000 more ahead of the next school year.
D.C. Council addresses current state of teacher retention
Similar progress is underway in neighboring Washington, D.C., though council members, educators and school leaders say more work is needed to better support teachers and improve school culture for students.
“We have made some progress as of the 2025-2026 school year,” said Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1). “We’ve retained 86 percent of our teachers in the school system, and 78 percent of our teachers remaining at the same school. That may be a step in the right direction but we can’t be satisfied when over 20 percent of our educators are leaving their schools every year, especially when we know how profoundly a stable, secure and productive school environment influences our children.”
“When our educators thrive, personally and professionally our students do, too,” she added.
The D.C. Council held public oversight hearings on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22 to examine teacher and principal retention in D.C. Public Schools and public charter schools. The hearings focused on working conditions, educator wellness and the opportunities for professional development and career advancement.
Lawmakers assessed whether existing policies sufficiently support educator retention and considered potential legislative or budget responses, as teacher turnovers continue to affect school stability across the District.
Jake Lappi, instructional superintendent for Cluster II at D.C. Public Schools, highlighted the role of leadership and school culture in keeping teachers in the District.
“Our aim is to retain every educator who is capable of excellence and aligned with the school’s vision,” Lappi said. “To help identify those types of educators, I assist principals in setting a culture in which we can observe how teachers respond to high expectations and support. This enables us to highlight those who consistently show up for our kids.”
Lappi said he has helped place 44 principals across the District and has seen assistant principals successfully transition into principal roles while maintaining school culture, expectations and relationships.
Representatives from public charter schools also addressed retention strategies. Mekia Love, chief of schools at KIPP DC, outlined initiatives aimed at supporting educators and school leaders.
“At KIPP DC we focus on three core strategies: educator agency, professional growth and recognition,” said Love. “We offer formal pathways for teachers to influence KIPP DC strategy. For example, our recruitment chairs and equity fellows receive stipends to contribute their front-line perspectives to our student recruitment and DEI (diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives).”
Love said KIPP DC also provides six teacher development and wellness days annually, along with ongoing coaching and targeted professional learning. KIPP DC serves nearly 7,400 students and employs about 1,200 teachers, staff and leaders. School leadership retention is 93 percent, and teacher retention is 83 percent, the highest level in the past decade outside of the virtual COVID-19 year, she said.
Teachers who testified highlighted classroom conditions as a major factor driving attrition, particularly in special education.
“Early childhood special education is where foundational skills are built, where early interventions make the greatest long-term impact and where students require intensive, individualized support,” said Toi Witcher, an early childhood special education teacher from Ward 2. “However, these classrooms are frequently over capacity. I have experienced classrooms with more students than recommended, which directly results in increased caseloads and significantly less time to tailor instruction to each child’s unique needs.”
Witcher added that special education teachers must also manage Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), data collection and legal documentation.
“When caseloads grow beyond what is manageable, the work becomes unsustainable,” she said. “Teachers are forced to choose between compliance and quality instruction, and students ultimately lose access to the individualized attention they deserve.”
Additional data presented by Hannah Mason, senior education research analyst at the D.C. Policy Center, showed that teachers with more than 10 years of experience are significantly more likely to stay, while those with less than a year are more likely to leave. Mason also noted that although Black teachers make up 55 percent of the workforce, roughly one in four leave their school or the system each year.
Oversight hearings on city agencies will continue through early March, helping inform the District’s annual budget process and allowing lawmakers and residents to hold agencies accountable.
For more information on employment opportunities in PGCPS and D.C. Public Schools, visit pgcps.org or joindcps.dc.gov, respectively.