Howard County schools close to filling all teacher vacancies ahead of new school year

The first time William Richardson, Jr., entered Wilde Lake Middle School, in Columbia, he was a sixth-grade student. On Saturday, about 30 years later, he walked through the building’s doors again, this time as an adult looking for a job at a Howard County Public School System Hiring Fair. “I called a buddy after the first job fair and said, ‘Man, it looks nothing like it used to,” Richardson, 44, said of the school. “It looks nice, but just totally different.” As a student, Richardson was in the school system’s Black Student Achievement Program. Now, he’s looking for a job in the program as a liaison.