LEWISTON — Want a job? Do you like children?

The Lewiston School Department is hiring.

It needs 22 teachers and 25 educational technicians, plus speech therapists and support staff, including cafeteria and maintenance workers.

To drum up job candidates, the department is holding its first job fair May 31 at The Green Ladle restaurant that’s part of the culinary arts program at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center on East Avenue. A large banner will soon hang across Main Street promoting the job fair.

“We find ourselves having lots of openings” Carol Burnham, Human Resources director for the Lewiston School Department, said. “We want to get out in front and hire for these positions early on. We’re looking for candidates looking to make a difference with our students.”

But with so many baby boomers retiring, there’s not a lot of qualified applicants.

“I see less teachers coming out of colleges now,” Burnham said. “Across the United States, everyone is experiencing this. We’re having a lot of people who are retiring, and the replacements are not there from the colleges.”

Meanwhile, Lewiston’s student population is growing. It stands at is 5,480; next year it’s expected to be 5,641.

To find teachers, Burnham has visited the University of Maine Orono, the University of Maine at Farmington, St. Joseph’s College and the University of Southern Maine to talk to education majors.

She has invited college students to consider teaching in Lewiston and spend a day in the classroom “to see what it would be like to work here,” Burnham said.

Some college students have taken Burnham up on that offer.

Last year, Burnham visited colleges trying to recruit candidates at job fairs. “It just wasn’t working,” she said. She hopes more targeted, one-on-one conversations with graduating college students will yield more candidates.

The qualifications for teachers are a four-year degree and a teaching certificate through the Maine Department of Education.

Pay ranges from $34,500 annually for no experience to $68,080 for those with a master’s degree and 28 years of experience.

An educational technician II position requires 60 credit hours, or two years of college. The pay goes from $14.55 with no experience to $19.26 for 14 years of experience.

An educational technician requires 90 credit hours, or about three years of college; the pay range is $15 to $19 an hour.

Many of the educational technician positions are in special education. “We will provide training for the right candidates,” Burnham said.

Custodian and food workers require a high school diploma or the equivalent. They are full-time jobs with benefits and pay $13 to start for custodians, $13.20 for food service workers.

Carol Burnham, right, human resources director for the Lewiston School Department, and Lisa Turner, substitute coordinator, display a sign for the upcoming Lewiston public schools job fair. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Lewiston public schools job fair

When: Noon to 4 p.m. May 31

Where: The Green Ladle, East Avenue

Why: To seek candidates for 50 to 60 jobs, including teachers, educational technicians, maintenance and food service workers

FMI: lewistonpublicschools.org