The Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) office of human resources and development proposed  their innovative plan to the Board of Education (BOE) on Nov. 9 to recruit more applicants to MCPS. One of their plans in particular is to increase outreach to MCPS students and the community to attract more applicants from within the community. 

As Maryland’s biggest public school system, MCPS is planning to brand themselves as a destination employer–an ultimate workplace where one would never have a reason to leave . MCPS currently offers a comprehensive benefit plan for employees, retirees, and their eligible dependents, which includes  employee assistance programs, wellness programming,  reimbursement, professional development and university partnership opportunities. In addition,  the opportunities for career  pathways and future work  initiatives.  

MCPS is envisioning a strategic pipeline of students who will return to MCPS as teachers, administrators or faculty. In addition to hiring a more diverse and inclusive workforce, MCPS wants to be more  representative of the student body. Currently, minorities make up 73.1 percent of the MCPS student body and 43.6 percent of the workforce according to Montgomery County Public Schools Annual Report from 2020-2021. 

MCPS is planning to expose students to the breadth of opportunities in the educational ecosystem as well as the opportunities within MCPS as an employer. 

Currently Wootton , Sherwood, Damascus, Magruder, Blair and Gaithersburg high schools produce the highest number of alumni that return to MCPS as teachers. MCPS is analyzing this data to increase alumni teachers in other schools across the county. The county is researching effective strategies to recruit students and support services staff to pursue opportunities within MCPS. 

MCPS envisions a “Signing Day” where current MCPS students can commit to returning to MCPS as a staff member after college graduation–similar to how athletes commit to colleges for sports scholarships– in return for tuition assistance. 

“I think [the Signing Day and tuition assistance are] definitely a big incentive to work for MCPS especially because tuition is extremely expensive,” said sophomore Sophia Teitelbaum, “I definitely would [consider returning to MCPS as a teacher], they pay well and it’s a school system I’m familiar with.”