TAMPA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County School District is making a major push to get more multilingual educators.

Administrators say nearly 40% of the district’s population is Hispanic, which is why they’re looking for ways to attract Spanish-speaking educators.

Teaching has always been a passion for Samantha Paz, a first-year teacher at Wimauma Elementary School and a bilingual educator.

“Some friends need a little extra help," she said. "It’s really important — they need the fundamentals in their own language as well."

She said now more than ever, it’s important to have representation in the classroom.

“They’re not used to their native tongue yet, but they’re also learning English so it’s tricky to, like, 'Hey if you don’t even know the numbers just yet how am I going to teach you in English,'" Paz said.

Her twin sister, Salome Paz, is also a first-year teacher. The two were hired after interning with the school system.

School leaders say as the number of Spanish-speaking students continues to increase, they want to be prepared with incentives and programs to attract more teachers.

Ismael Lebron-Bravo, the human resources partner with Hillsborough County Public Schools, said along with the intern program, the district has also partnered with recruitment agencies to help fill positions.

Salome Paz said they’re not just helping the students, but their parents too.

“When I meet these parents, most of them do not know English and I’m going to have to make that effort to be, like, OK, I speak English with my kids but with their parents I need to communicate with them in any way I can," she said.

Salome is helping bring her students together to create a space where they can all feel seen and welcome.

“It’s just cool to see all of our different cultures combined in one, even with their little words they say that are slightly different,” she said.