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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - With school starting at the end of next week for some metro Atlanta school districts, thousands of teachers are already in their buildings preparing for the new school year.

Fulton County Schools kicked off a two-day new teacher orientation Thursday at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. Among the new teachers in attendance was Ashley Postell, a recent graduate of the University of North Georgia.

With a major in math and a minor in education, Postell probably could’ve gotten a job at any school district in the state, but she chose Fulton County Schools. She said it wasn’t just because of the competitive salary – she also felt that her supervisors would support her desire to grow within the district.

“They also help with continuing education, getting my masters,” she said. “That’s what I’m also looking forward to.”

School starts Aug. 5 for Postell’s district.

In Clayton County, recruiters are having a tougher time filling the spots created by teachers leaving the district. At a job fair Wednesday, district leaders were trying to fill more than 200 teaching-related positions. The first day of school in Clayton County is Aug. 1.

DeKalb County still has more than a hundred open teaching positions. Fulton County has about 70.

RELATED: Metro Atlanta school districts scramble to fill vacant teacher positions

“It says that Fulton County is a choice where people want to work in,” said Dr. Gonzalo La Cava, chief human resources officer for Fulton County Schools.

La Cava said this year, Fulton has 400 teachers who are new to the district. That’s down from 800 last year, meaning a lot more teachers are staying put.

Atlanta Public Schools officials said the district has already filled all of its open teaching positions for the school year.

When it comes to filling open bus driver positions, however, several school districts are still struggling.

“Atlanta’s a very competitive city,” said La Cava. “We have Google. We have Amazon. We have FedEx, UPS. Everybody has drivers. And so we have about 100 positions left. But again, I always tell people, if you want to be a bus driver, you can also impact our students by getting to school and back home safely, and it’s a great job.”

Fulton is one of several metro Atlanta school districts that will hire a prospective bus driver who doesn’t yet have a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and pay that person during the training course for the CDL.