Schools Use Job Fair to Fill Vacancies

More than 400 potential teacher applicants signed up for interviews at a job fair held Saturday by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District to fill fall semester vacancies.

The jobs will be open in part because district officials expect many teachers to take early retirement.

For Kim Winford, 32, the attraction to the job fair was geographic. The Placentia woman has an 8-month-old baby and currently teaches kindergarten in San Bernardino County. She said she is fed up with the commute.

“I’m tired of dealing with fuel spills and all the big rigs on the 10 Freeway,” said Winford. “I just want to try to avoid all SigAlerts on my way to work.”

There was bottled water, food and soda for applicants as they waited to interview with representatives of schools throughout the Placentia-Yorba Linda district.

The job fair was special to one of the interviewers, Gail Kairis of Yorba Linda. She got her job as a counselor at Valencia High School in Placentia when she came to the district’s job fair a year ago.

“It’s strange to be on the other side of the table this year,” said Kairis.

Tim Van Eck, the district’s assistant superintendent, said quite a few applicants were teachers working in the Orange Unified School District, which has labor problems. Teachers at the district staged a one-day walkout last week and are demanding more money.

“It’s sad,” said Van Eck. “We don’t want to benefit from their troubles.”