Nassau schools tout jobs available at BOCES fair in Freeport

Yolany Arias arrived at the Freeport Recreation Center on a rainy Thursday morning in search of a full-time position that would allow her to better provide for her children — even to buy something as simple as a birthday cake for her son who’s turning 10 Sunday.

“I want a better job for my kids,” the mother of two said. “I don’t have the money to buy him a cake. But I will make something. I will prepare something for my boy.”

Arias, of Hempstead, was among about 80 job-seekers who came to the job fair, hosted by Nassau BOCES, by noon Thursday. 

This year, administrators from 19 school districts and Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services set up tables with flyers, application forms and bowls of candy. Among the positions for hire are teacher aides, bus drivers, nurses, food service personnel, cleaners and monitors. 

Arias was looking for a full-time position in food services. She was a lunch aide at a charter school for several years. But the position she had was part-time and she wanted more hours to work as she felt the rising pressure of inflation.

A few years ago, $100 could have bought groceries for her and her two boys, 11 and 9, for nearly a week, she said.

“Now, $100 is nothing,” she said. “Food is expensive. The rent is expensive. … My kids are growing up. They need more things.”

Nataly Giannuzzi, of Bethpage, was looking to get into the public school system for better benefits and the summer off.

Giannuzzi, a teacher at a nonprofit school for children with special needs, came to the fair with her 3-month-old daughter. The new mother said she would like to continue to work as a special-education teacher but in a public school.

“I love teaching, especially special ed,” she said. “I feel like I make a difference in special ed, you know, to be their voice.”

From the perspective of the recruiters, educators said they’ve found events like the fair beneficial because they open another channel of meet-and-greet where candidates can ask questions. That matters, given that hiring in the educational system differs from other sectors.

For example, most of those who came to the fair had not been fingerprinted, said Andrea Pekar, assistant superintendent for personnel at Hicksville schools.

Under state law, applicants generally must undergo a fingerprint-supported criminal history background check to work in a public school where their employment involves direct contact with students. 

Pekar said jobs fairs like this allow recruiters like her to cast a wider net to “a variety and diversity of candidates” who may not have seen the openings on job sites like Indeed or OLAS, an online search platform where schools post positions.

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.