Hundreds of Educators Attend Job Fair

Hundreds of Georgia educators were Gwinnett County Saturday, for the Gwinnett County Schools Job Fair. School officials with the state's largest school district say they are hiring over a hundred teachers and support staff for next school year.

The real good news for educators attending the Gwinnett County Teacher Employment Fair is that the school district is hiring.

"The response has been overwhelming. We've had over 2,000 teacher candidates to come through today," said Gwinnett County Schools' Sid Camp.

During Saturday's open session, hundreds of educators from across the country filed into the Gwinnett Center and distributed resumes. Recruiters from more than 100 Gwinnett schools were on hand to inteview prospective hires during a round of pre-scheduled interviews.

"I interviewed with Grayson and Cooper elementary," said applicant Elise Craig.

Like other industries, school systems statewide have been impacted by the failing economy.

"Some places, I have been under qualified. Some places, (I've been) over qualified," said another job applicant.

Gwinnett County, the state's largest school district, is bucking that trend by adding 10 new schools in August.

"Gwinnett County is the only county hiring for teachers. I'm just concerned that there are so many people looking for jobs coming from everywhere else. I'm hoping I'm one of the ones they pick," said applicant Melinda Greenstone.

While Gwinnett officials said the economy has slowed the demand for new teachers, it's not preventing them from adding an additional 100 to 200 teachers next year.

"We always have a great turnout. Gwinnett County Public Schools is a destination school district -- a highly sought after school district -- but we are seeing a larger turnout than we normally see," said Camp.