After biggest retirement wave in years, Kannapolis City Schools enters new year with few teacher vacancies

District has hired nearly 100 employees — more than double a typical summer — through early recruiting, new partnerships and creative hiring strategies.

Kannapolis City Schools Human Resources Director Mandi Campbell meets with Superintendent Dr. Sara Newell. District officials say proactive hiring and recruiting efforts have helped keep vacancies low ahead of the new school year. Photo credit: Chris Miller.

With one of the largest waves of retirements in recent memory and nearly twice as many new employees to hire as usual, Kannapolis City Schools faced an unusually busy summer.

District leaders say the work has paid off.

As of Tuesday morning, KCS had between 25 and 30 vacancies across both certified and classified positions, according to Human Resources Director Mandi Campbell. The number of classroom teacher openings remains on the lower end of that range.