District reports 625 hires since April; instructional vacancies at lowest level since 2019

The Okaloosa County School District has hired 625 people since April 1, including 495 hires since July, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Hale told the school board at a workshop meeting. "Since April 1, there have been 625 hires in this district," Dr. Hale said, and he reported 20 current instructional vacancies across the district — a low number not seen since 2019.

Dr. Hale described the hiring process as rigorous and noted a new fingerprinting system required by recent legislation has added steps to vetting. He credited multiple HR staff and hiring analysts for processing applications, references, fingerprinting and position control work that aligns hires with budgeted positions. The superintendent and board members publicly thanked HR employees for their work.

Recognition and next steps Board members asked HR staff to stand and acknowledged specific team members cited by Dr. Hale, including building-level administrators, hiring analysts, fingerprint specialists, position-control staff and front-line HR staff such as Maybelle (position control), Ward (position control; not present), Medina, Santos, Mercado and Donaldson. Dr. Hale and the superintendent said the district will highlight one department member at future meetings to explain their role.

Ending Board members praised HR—s professionalism and noted the complexity of modern hiring compared with earlier eras. The district said it will continue to monitor vacancies and staffing as the year progresses.