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900+ teachers new to Palm Beach County as school year begins

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Teachers are already in their classrooms getting ready for the first day of school. There are more than 900 new teachers to the Palm Beach County School District.

WPTV spoke to some of them during orientation at Teacher Fest.

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Clayton James is a new teacher to Dwyer High School.

"I'm absolutely happy. I grew up here. My family is still here, and the support group where I’ll be will be phenomenal," said James.

James is returning home with a master's degree and hopes to give back to the community that raised him.

New teacher Kelly Hughes is coming to the area from New Jersey. She moved to Palm Beach County to be with her fiancee.

Hughes brings 10 years of experience and taught at a smaller school district. Hughes thinks working for the 13th largest public school system in the country will be a challenge. "

"As an elementary school teacher, my job is just to instill a love of learning," Hughes said "Whether you’re in New Jersey, Maryland or Florida, it doesn’t matter. It's about making those connections."

Carly Satterly, an interim teacher at Christa McAuliffe Middle School, is looking forward to starting the year fresh. She taught class a couple of months and now joins the school as a full-time teacher.

Satterly offers this advice, "You’re going to make mistakes, don’t freak out when you make those mistakes and you’ll hopefully learn from them just like the students learn from their mistakes."

The district is still in the process of hiring around 275 teachers. There are still openings. Those hired so far include teachers from Spain, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Cuba.