By Sarah Cook

The Selma Times-Journal

The Selma City School Board is working to fill open teacher positions as Monday marks the first day of school for the Selma City School System.

In a unanimous vote during Friday’s board meeting, the board voted to approve personnel services, which would help them fill these empty spots.

“This is the beginning of the school year and we have a lot of teachers that have declined offers,” Selma City School Board president Henry Hicks Sr. said. “We extended an offer to them and they decided that they didn’t want to come to work here. What happened is they probably took a placement somewhere else.”

Sometimes teachers decline offers because they don’t live in the Selma area and it’s more convenient to work in a nearby city, like Montgomery, board member Frank Chestnut said.

Since the first day of school is a mere three days away, the pressure is on the Selma City School Board to fill these spots.

“Now we have to try and fill those positions because school does open on Monday, on the 20th,” Hicks said.

Hicks added that it is common for teachers to move in and out of the school system throughout the year.

“We’ll have teachers moving in and out even throughout the year,” Hicks said. “But we do have what we call long-term subs that can sub until we can hire a teacher.”

The next meeting, which will be open to the pubic, will be held Sept. 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the new Selma High School auditorium. There will be a budget meeting before at 4 p.m., which will also be open to the public.

“It is time for school to start,” Chestnut said. “And we have to do what we have to do to make sure our children have teachers in their rooms when they get there.”