ATHENS, Ala. (WHNT) — Athens City Schools held a job fair Monday, looking to fill certified positions and support staff.

Athens Middle School welcomed hopeful candidates looking to join the Athens City Schools system for the 2023-24 school year.

Teachers of all grade levels are needed, as well as bus drivers and cafeteria workers.

All levels of experience were invited to attend and had the chance to meet and speak with school administrators.

Athens City Schools superintendent, Beth Patton told News 19 that job fairs like these are becoming more important, as more teachers inform her of their intent to retire at the end of the school year.

“We have seen a pretty large number of retirements already for the upcoming school year, so we know that we’re going to need to fill some key positions. So, this job fair gives us the opportunity for people to come in and get to talk one-on-one with our employees and see what every school is like and get to know people one-to-one,” Patton explained.

Patton says, at this time ACS does not have a specific number of teachers they would like to hire because they’re unsure of how many teachers they’ll be losing due to retirement or transfers at the end of the school year.