Local News - April 2003

Recruiting, keeping teachers difficult in Lincoln

Published April 7, 2003

Vacancies reach 100 yearly

Editor’s Note: This is the first of two articles on teacher recruitment in Lincoln County Schools. The second article will appear next Monday.

By JEREMY ASHTON, LTN Staff Writer

Katie Christopher majored in broadcast journalism while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but by her senior year, she knew she wanted to teach.

Christopher is now in her first year at East Lincoln High School, teaching Spanish and coaching junior varsity girls’ soccer.

Laura Rader, a fourth-grade teacher in her third year at S. Ray Lowder Elementary School, moved from Ohio to teach in Lincoln County.

One of Rader’s co-workers, Jennifer Carroll, has been at S. Ray Lowder for five years. A native of Lincoln County, Carroll commutes to work every day from Iredell County.

Pam Williams, the mother of three, went back to school at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte just to become a teacher. In her first year teaching third-graders at Love Memorial Elementary School, Williams can’t imagine herself doing anything else.

“I have always felt that outstanding teachers are called to the profession, and it is truly the case with Mrs. Williams,” said Love Memorial Principal Ron Deaton.

All of these teachers are doing something they feel is important in a school system they believe supports them.

But Lincoln County Schools has a never-ending struggle to hire enthusiastic teachers such as them.

“People don’t realize the numbers because we have very good teachers,” said Walter Hart, assistant superintendent for human resources.

The recruiting trail

On average, Lincoln County Schools has 100 vacant teaching positions to fill every year due to retirements or teachers moving onto other school systems or careers.

Finding teachers to fill those vacancies is becoming increasingly difficult.

North Carolina’s schools have to hire an estimated 10,500 new teachers each year, but the state’s colleges and universities only graduate about 3,500 education majors. Of that group, just 2,500 actually go into teaching within North Carolina.

To meet the school system’s need for teachers, Hart and other administrators will travel to 45 different job fairs throughout the eastern United States this year alone. In addition to visiting North Carolina’s teaching colleges, they journey to states like West Virginia, Ohio and New York to recruit.

Many northern states are experiencing the opposite situation that North Carolina is seeing — a teacher surplus. Schools are closing in some of those areas, leaving well-trained teachers scrambling to find work.

Once teachers are brought to Lincoln County from other states, the challenge for the school system is always keeping them around.

Rader is one of those teachers who came from outside of the area and settled down in Lincoln. For her, the community has been a big reason to stay.

“I want to teach the kids in this county,” Rader said.

Some teachers, however, see a job in North Carolina as a good way to get experience and make themselves marketable in their home states, where they can make more money.

Cindy Sherrill, a fifth-grade teacher at S. Ray Lowder with 27 years of experience, has mentored three different newcomers in the last five years. Perhaps the most promising was a young teacher from Pennsylvania who went back to her home state and instantly made $10,000 more per year.

“It just made her sick when she got her check every month,” Sherrill said. “She kept telling me, ‘Ms. Sherrill, I know I’m worth more than this.’”

Catawba Springs Principal Mitch Eisner, who moved from New York 23 years ago, said a majority of the teachers coming to the area do stay. Even if they don’t, he said, bringing them down for a little while is worth the trouble.

“Even to have someone come down for three years, that’s three years you’ve had a highly qualified teacher,” Eisner said.

The competition

Whether they’re coming from North Carolina or outside the state, Lincoln is constantly going up against neighboring school systems for quality teachers.

At nearly every job fair they go to, the district’s recruiters see representatives from Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Catawba, Newton-Conover and Gaston, all of which offer a higher supplement. Even when teachers do come to a Lincoln school, the threat always exists of them jumping to somewhere like Charlotte, where the average annual supplement is more than $3,400 higher.

“The worst scenario in a teacher shortage is to lose teachers to higher pay,” Superintendent Jim Watson said.

In general, school systems are having to compete with other professions as well as each other.

Carroll has two master’s degrees and is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, both of which carry automatic pay increases. She still doesn’t make as much money as some of her friends in other jobs who don’t have comparable educational backgrounds.

A first-year teacher in North Carolina makes just $25,250 annually with an average supplement of $1,676 added in Lincoln County. Especially in science and math fields, potential teachers can go to other professions and make much more than that right out of college.

“It hits teachers squarely when they look at their friends in the business world,” Hart said.

The future

The situation statewide isn’t going to get easier in the foreseeable future.

Hart said two significant phenomena could leave North Carolina schools in a desperate situation by the end of the decade. Nearly half the state’s teachers will be eligible to retire by 2010, while an influx of students is creating a need for more schools.

Meanwhile, the federal No Child Left Behind Act is increasing requirements for “highly qualified teachers.” The act, Hart said, could potentially make it more difficult for people like Christopher to enter the profession through lateral entry.

Another effect No Child Left Behind is having is increasing testing requirements to hold schools more accountable.

Hart said it’s too early to tell if the added tests are driving away potential teachers. The tests, however, have created more work for current teachers.

“It’s just so overwhelming and stressful for us and the children,” Williams said.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

Terms and Conditions