WATERTOWN, S.D.(KXLG)- The Associated School Boards of South Dakota recently announced there were 353 teacher positions open in July in the state.

That is a significant increase from last year at this time, when there were 256 openings, nearly 100 fewer than this year. In 2022, there were 225 openings.

The numbers include not only teachers, but paraprofessionals and support staff as well.

With the start of the school year only three weeks away, the Watertown School District has just one teaching job open – a foreign language instructor for the high school. A bigger need, according to Superintendent Dr. Jeff Danielsen, is for speech therapists.

Danielsen told KXLG News that four speech therapists could be added to the four already employed by the district. But finding them is not an easy task.

He said the district will use online resources to make up for the shortage of speech therapists.

Danielsen said Watertown is fortunate not to have a large number of open school positions.

A check of some of the larger school districts in the KXLG-area shows no teacher openings in Milbank and Clark, two in Sisseton and one in Webster.