Hollister School District staff go overseas to recruit new
teachers
Two staff members recently traveled to the Philippines on a
recruitment trip to fulfill a need for more special education
teachers in the Hollister School District.
Hollister School District staff go overseas to recruit new teachers
Two staff members recently traveled to the Philippines on a recruitment trip to fulfill a need for more special education teachers in the Hollister School District.
Recruiting special education teachers is a major problem, said Ronald Crate, the superintendent of the Hollister School District.
“It’s been a problem in every place,” Crates said. “It’s becoming very difficult.”
The trip included a staff member from the district who was from the Philippines and the special education director, Crates said. They recruited from universities in the Philippines, he said.
The district will not pay moving expenses for any of the teachers, Crates said. The trip cost $3,600, he said.
Asked if the trip was successful, Crates said, “We’ll see.”
“They made offers to, I think it was three or four people,” he said.
In two or three weeks district officials should know their answer, Crates said.
When the district does not have special education teachers that are qualified to fulfill the needs of a student with special needs, district officials can pay a company to provide the necessary service, Crates said.
In 06-07, staff from the district had to contract for a psychologist, said Stephen McKeown, the director of special services in the Hollister School District. In 07-08, staff from the district contracted for a speech therapist, he said.
The cost of such contracts depends on the company, Crates said.
“Normally you have to pay $20,000 above and beyond what you’d have to pay a teacher,” Crates said. “I was getting upset because I’d rather have my own people be getting the salary than some company.”
District officials need at least five to eight more special education teachers, Crates said.
Supply and demand is an issue among special education teachers, he said. The problem is nationwide, he said.
More special education permits are being issued in special education, but not enough to cover the need, said Marilyn Errett, spokesperson for the California commission on teacher credentialing.
In 2005-2006, the state issued 3,636 special education credentials and 3,828 emergency credentials, Errett said. That is about 500 more special education teachers in each category than in 2004-2005, she said.
“We’ve had a difficult time the last five or six years than in the past recruiting special education teachers,” Crates said. “Autism, speech, and language is becoming very difficult.”
Nicholas Certo, a professor and chair for the department of special education at San Francisco State University, agrees that the shortage of special education teachers is more pronounced in California.
“This is a national problem, and it’s a more severe problem in California,” Certo said. “Not only the size, but it’s the fact that we’re the only state in the U.S. that does not train teachers at the undergraduate level.”
In every other state, a student can finish their bachelor’s degree with a certification to be a teacher, he said.
“I personally feel that’s an impediment, increases the teacher shortage,” Certo said.
If officials from a school district call the special education department at San Francisco State looking for a student to recruit, that may not be possible, he said.
“The majority of our students, well over 50 percent of them, are on emergency credentials,” Certo said. “They are teaching during the day, and coming in at night.”
To recruit special education teachers, officials from the Hollister School District need to form a relationship with professors in local universities, particularly faculty in those areas in which they need teachers, he said.
There is also a high rate of turnover among special education teachers, Crates said.
“It’s a very difficult job, very difficult, and it’s hard to recruit them,” he said.
Staff from the Monterey County Office of Education are no longer recruiting from the Philippines, said Jeana Jett, assistant superintendent of the Monterey County Office of Education.
“We’re not going on those trips now, given the budget crisis,” Jett said. “We have not gone on any recruiting trips in the last two years.”
They are recruiting from local universities, and through recruiting fairs, she said.
Currently, there are six teachers from the Philippine recruiting trips that are working in the district, Jett said.
“We’ve had a very good experience with the teachers we’ve brought in,” she said.
There have also been problems, she said.
“There are a lot of issues associated with bringing foreign teachers in,” Jett said. “Definitely the visa has been an issue. There are often cultural and linguistic issues.”
Gilroy Unified School District has not recruited overseas.
“I know there was an administrator that created a group that was taking a group of administrators to the Philippines,” said Kim Filice, a director of human resources for the Giloy Unified School District. “Gilroy unified is not currently participating in that. We feel that we can meet our needs by recruiting staff in our area. And it is an additional expense also, to recruit out of state.”
Special education teachers are the toughest to recruit, said Mike Potmesil, director of human resources for the San Benito High School District.
“It’s definitely a sellers’ market out there for special ed. teachers,” Potmesil said. “Special ed teachers can pretty much go where they want to go and get hired.”
Officials from the high school district are not currently using special contracts to fulfill special education needs, Potmesil said.
“We haven’t had to do that, at least in my tenure here,” Potmesil said.
Crates said that he would continue to recruit teachers from outside the country.
“I would sure do it again,” Crates said. “If I could find qualified teachers in those areas, it would save us money. It’s a no brainer. I would do it over and over again. It just makes sense.”
