Wanted: Broward public school teachers.

Details: Knowledge of Japanese might help. So might high school chemistry certification. Dancing could be a plus.

A month after firing nearly 400 teachers who were relatively new to the Broward school system, the district is looking to fill dozens of positions that the laid-off educators don't qualify for.

News of the job postings prompted an angry reply from the Broward Teachers Union.

``It's just a huge slap in the face of all those teachers,'' union president Pat Santeramo.

The 89 open jobs include several high school math and science positions, middle school science spots, a few media specialists, some special education teachers, speech pathologists and a couple specific areas like dance, foreign language or automotive technology.

``These are jobs that cannot be filled by existing people on the layoff list due to a certification or a qualification not in alignment,'' said Broward Schools Superintendent Jim Notter.

Broward School Board members laid off 394 teachers on June 23 due to budget woes and declining enrollment. Most of the teachers were in their first couple years in the district and the majority worked at elementary schools.

STILL WITHOUT JOBS

Board members vowed to rehire as many as possible, and started doing so about a week later. Vacancies opened up as educators resigned or retired, or lost their positions because they failed to update their certifications.

Of the teachers who were laid off in June, 243 are still without jobs. That number is expected to shrink to about 217 next week.

So far, 133 teachers have been rehired and 18 have severed ties with the district.

School officials have also hired 42 teachers who were in other positions in the district to fill new stimulus-funded jobs as academic coaches.

EMPTY POSITIONS

That left empty positions that could be filled by some laid-off teachers, but others that had to be advertised to outsiders because no one who lost their job had the certification required to fill the spots.

Union officials want the district to move currently employed teachers with the right certification into the open spots, potentially opening up positions for the laid-off teachers.

Said Notter: ``We're tightly adhering to the BTU contract.''

Deadline to apply is Tuesday.

For a list of vacancies, go to www.browardschools.com/departments/employment/.

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