Q: What is the deadline for submitting applications for summer school?
To maximize your opportunity to be selected for your preferred assignments and locations we suggest that you submit your application as soon as possible in order to allow enough time to complete and finalize the application and hiring process. Summer staffing will begin shortly after that date and will continue until all vacancies are filled, normally about a week before summer school begins. Applications will be accepted though the spring and early summer as late, unanticipated vacancies occur due to severe illness, accidents, and emergencies.
Q: If I apply after the preferred February 22 deadline, what are my chances of being selected for summer employment?
Your chances would depend upon the preferences you expressed for assignments, subjects, and locations. Some locations and positions are highly sought and will fill fairly soon after February 22. Other positions may take longer to fill for a variety of reasons. Then, too, some positions will re-open later in the staffing season for a variety of reasons—contract rejection, an employee's failure to return a signed contract within the timeline, or personal and families emergencies or illnesses.
If you are interested in summer employment we encourage you to submit an application (teaching 
or classified position ) as soon as possible, regardless of the date, as summer staffing is an ongoing activity.
Q: How will I know if the summer school staffing office has received my application?
Beginning in mid-March, on a weekly basis, a list of applications received will be posted on this site. The list will be published in a manner to protect the identity of the applicants by publishing accepted applicants by the last four digits of the social security numbers.
Q: I applied for a summer school teaching position. I checked the "Applications Received/Accepted" list and my name was not listed; I submitted my applications some time ago. What happened?
More often than not, the problem is in the documentation of your license. Non-currently employed VBCPS teachers must submit a copy of your current teaching license to the summer school office to apply for a teaching position—even if you have an application and license on file for the "regular" school year. If you have not yet sent the summer staffing office a copy of your license, your application will not be processed until the appropriate licensure documentation is received by the summer staffing office.
Currently employed VBCPS teachers do not need to submit license copies, as licensure information appears in our computer files upon entry of the application into our staffing database.
Q: I applied for a summer school teacher assistant position. I checked the "Applications Received/Accepted" list and my name was not included; I submitted my applications some time ago. What happened?
Your application may be incomplete or not fully legible. If you're applying for a non-teaching position and do not find your name on the Applications Received/Accepted (starting mid-March) seven days after you have submitted it, please contact the summer staffing office at 757.263.1056 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. weekdays.
Q: If I list preferences for subjects, grades, or locations on my application, will I have a better chance for employment?
Listing preferences for locations and assignments brings your application to the attention of the summer school principals at your preferred worksites to notify them of your specific interests. However, if you want to maximize your opportunity for employment, you may want to check the "Yes" checkbox option on the back of the application to express your willingness to work at any available site.
Some sites/assignments have large numbers of applicants. Applicants for those positions will have reduced probability of winning a contract, given the competition for those slots. If you want the best chance of winning a summer job, we recommend opening your application to a wider market by expressing willingness to work at any available worksite.
Bear in mind, if you express preferences for specific locations/subject or grade assignments and do not express interest in ANY location/subject, then essentially your application is limited to those schools and/or subject assignments you've listed as preferences. You would not be considered for any other vacancies that might occur outside your expressed preferences.
Q: My friends have received contracts for summer school. I've applied and have not heard anything about being selected. What can you tell me?
For a number of reasons, the position you've requested may not have yet been staffed. As positions are filled, persons selected for positions will be sent contracts by the VBCPS internal "pony" mail or by U.S. mail. On a weekly basis, beginning in mid March, remaining vacant positions will be posted on this site. Applicants should check this listing periodically to determine the status of vacancies and positions in which they are interested.
Q: I did not receive a summer school contract offer. Why didn't I get hired?
Our hiring decision matrix weighs the following criteria:
- Certification/licensure appropriate to the position
- Documentation to verify teaching licensure (required for non-VBCPS employees for teaching positions)
- Work experience at the summer school site during the current school year or recent school years
- Work experience in the Virginia Beach City Public Schools
- Work experience in the same or closely similar assignments to the target position
- Previous summer school work experience
- The fit or match of the target position to the applicant's expressed preferences for location and subject/grade assignments
- Principals' recommendations
- Date of submission of application
How well an applicant matches up with the above selection criteria is a critical factor in winning a particular position. Then too, we find imbalances in the applicant pools for summer school positions. Some positions / schools / subjects / grades attract a large number of candidates. Other positions have fewer applicants. VBCPS has over 1,000 summer school positions to fill, and each position is unique in its attraction to prospective employees. Quite possibly, your choice of preferences for assignments/locations on your application was for one of these very highly competed positions.
Q: I viewed the list of remaining/unfilled summer school vacancies and I noticed that the positions for which I applied are no longer available. I still want to work in the schools this summer. What should I do?
If you see a position of interest still open, you may want to contact the summer staffing office to change your preferences for worksites and/or assignments expressed in your application to target that position remaining. To make changes to your application, we do need a signed request from you sent to the summer staffing office, (Department of Human Resources, Virginia Beach City Public Schools Administration Building, Virginia Beach, VA 23456), to verify the changes to be made. Alternatively, you may send an e-mail to Wesley Jones, summer school staffing associate at wesley.jones@vbschools.com with your request to change preferences. To protect the integrity of application data, we regret that we cannot accept changes on your application by telephone.
After your application preferences have been updated, your name will appear on subsequent applicant/candidate lists sent to summer school principals for their review and consideration. Again, to maximize your hiring potential, you may wish change your location preferences to "any location" and/or your subject/grade preferences to "Any Assignment for which l'm qualified or licensed."
Q: I need to work this summer. I have another job offer outside the schools, but I'd really like to work in summer school instead. What should I do?
Each applicant's situation will be unique. Reviewing the posted list of summer school vacancies will advise you of the availability of the position(s) you wanted. If the positions you preferred are still available, then you are certainly still "in the running" for them. If your preferred positions are filled, you will have to decide whether to change your application preferences for vacancies in other schools/positions or to take the position you've been offered outside the school division for the summer.
Q: Can a summer teaching job be split? I have a colleague who is willing to work the part of the summer that I cannot.
We feel that the students' best interests must govern our hiring practices. From the standpoint of what is best for the students, instructional continuity is difficult to maximize if more than one teacher teaches the class, particularly in the short, intense summer sessions. You may certainly apply to split a position. Whether you might be selected and permitted to split a position would depend heavily upon availability of other suitable candidates. Another fully licensed, experienced teacher applying for the full position would be given hiring priority over a teacher applying to split a contract. Job/contract splits also require the approval and recommendation of the site principal.
Given the caveats and requirements above, If you and your colleague wish to apply for a contract split, your applications should specifically identify the co-teachers and should reference the dates each party would work.
Q: I want to work summer school but I have a previous commitment that conflicts with two days of the students' summer school days. Can I still be hired?
The summer school site principals make hiring recommendations for all summer positions. You should discuss your individual situation and schedule conflict with the site principals for the schools for which you're applying to work. Availability of other fully qualified candidates, your previous teaching experience, summer school experience, "regular" school year job performance, and the contribution you can make to a school's summer program would be factors the principal quite possibly might consider. Ultimately, the summer school principal must decide what action is in the best interest of the students, given the above factors.
Q: I currently have a contract for a summer position at school X, but I've noticed a position more attractive than the one I have has recently reopened. How do I transfer to this position?
The summer school principal at the school with the vacant position would have to recommend you specifically for the vacancy. To be eligible for the vacancy, you would have to submit in writing your declination of the contract for the current position you hold.
Q: I hold a special education teaching license. Am I eligible to teach in "regular" education classes?
You must hold the teaching license appropriate to the teaching assignment Therefore, you would have to have a regular education license in addition to your special ed license to teach in a regular ed classroom during the summer. Alternatively, regular education teachers cannot teach in special education classrooms unless they hold the appropriate special education licensure endorsements.
Q: I currently teach special education but I'm licensed in special education and regular education. Can I teach regular ed in summer school?
Yes, as long as you hold licensure appropriate to the target teaching assignment, you can be employed for a regular ed position. Bear in mind, however, that generally, summer school principals prefer to employ teachers with very recent experience directly related to the vacant position, as these individuals can "hit the ground running."
Q: When and how will I be paid?
Summer school employees are considered “temporary services/ part time employees” for their summer employment and are paid in arrears two weeks after their hours worked during a pay period are reported to the Payroll Office.
For example, if you start summer school work on June 25 and work the last week in June, your June 26-31 work hours would be reported to Payroll on June 31 and you would be paid for those hours on July 15. Summer school ends on July 30, August 7, or August 8, depending on your assignment to elementary, middle or senior high. Following our example, hours worked from August 4-7 would be reported on August 15, and you would be paid for those hours on August 31. Hours worked between July 16-26 will be reported July 31 and paid August 15.
If you worked with VBCPS during the “regular” school year, your check will be sent to your “home” school or office on paydays. If you did not work with VBCPS during the school year, your check will be mailed to your home address on file in the summer school office.
Q: When will I hear something about my application?
Status updates will be provided on a weekly basis on the Summer School Application Status page. After your application has been received, processed, and accepted, acknowledgement of your application’s receipt will be posted on this site via the last 4 digits of your social security number. As eligible candidates are selected for positions, their selection will be noted on this page with the designation CONTRACT PENDING beside their 4 digit social security number. This designation will indicate a contract offer is being prepared and will be mailed to the candidate, either through inter-office mail (Pony Mail) for current VBCPS personnel or by U.S. mail for non-current VBCPS employees. Contract offers should arrive in approximately 5-7 working days after the Web posting appears.
Q: When will summer staffing be finished?
Summer school staffing will begin in mid to late March and will conclude when all positions are filled. We have over 1,100 positions to fill, so the process will take most of the spring to complete. Staffing the past few years was completed about one week before summer school started in late June. Know also that some summer school positions will re-open and need to be re-filled, even after the start of summer school.
The best way for applicants to track on their status is to check periodically the Summer School Vacancies and Summer School Application Status pages.
