1
See what vacancy numbers can miss
Learn how districts moved from counting open positions to examining the recruitment and retention challenges behind them.
Strengthening the Teacher Workforce Webinar Series | Session 1
Beyond the Vacancy: Why Districts Can’t Recruit Their Way to Workforce Stability
Thursday, September 24, 2026
10–11 a.m. ET
Filling teacher vacancies is essential, but recruitment alone won’t create a stable teacher workforce. In this free 60-minute kickoff session, see how districts are looking beyond vacancy counts to uncover what’s driving recruitment and retention challenges, identify the factors they can influence, and focus their efforts where they can make the greatest difference.
Session 1 of our new seven-part series for Florida district leaders and HR teams. Learn more about the series.
What you’ll learn
Look past the vacancy count and get closer to the real problem.
You’ll hear what district leaders discovered when they examined their workforce challenges more closely, where the evidence challenged their assumptions, and what their experience can teach other Florida districts.
2
Focus on factors districts can influence
See how district teams narrowed broad workforce concerns into areas where local action could make a measurable difference.
3
Learn from real Florida examples
Hear lessons from district work in Lee, Pasco, and Osceola counties, including results tied to recruitment, onboarding, and retention.
Florida district results
Districts are already seeing measurable progress.
The session will share examples from Florida districts that changed how they approached teacher workforce challenges.
Lee County
Nearly 600 → 0
Leaders first tackled a teacher vacancy count of close to 600, bringing vacancies to zero.
Lee County
83% → 93.1%
Teacher retention increased 10 percentage points across a workforce of roughly 6,000 teachers through Project Thrive.
Pasco County
91% vs. 75%
91% of teachers who participated in a new mid-year orientation returned the next year, compared with a 75% districtwide new-teacher retention rate.
“The results are worth the commitment.” Michael Allen, Chief of Staff and Strategy, Osceola County
Featured speaker
Jessica Solano
Former leader of Impact Florida’s Teacher Workforce Cadre
Meet Jessica
Teacher workforce experience from the classroom to the district office.
Jessica led Impact Florida’s Teacher Workforce Cadre from 2023–2025, working alongside district teams to design and test solutions that strengthen the teacher pipeline and keep great educators in the classroom.
In 2017, Jessica was named Florida’s Teacher of the Year. She later returned to the classroom and created two programs focused on teacher leadership and mentorship, work that helped lead to the creation of Polk County Public Schools’ Teacher Engagement Department.
Before joining Impact Florida as a Teacher Workforce consultant, Jessica served as Director of Recruitment and Engagement with Polk County Public Schools, where her work contributed to a threefold increase in teacher applicants.
A seven-part series
Strengthening the Teacher Workforce
This webinar opens a seven-part series from Impact Florida. The remaining six sessions will guide district leaders and human resources teams through the work step by step, including workforce data planning, defining the problem, listening to educators, identifying root causes, testing strategies, and planning for implementation.