HAMLET — Three weeks before classes start, Richmond County Schools are 17 teachers short.

“It’s like pulling teeth” to fill the classrooms in the county’s 15 schools, Superintendent Cindy Goodman said Monday. “There are no teachers out there” who haven’t already made commitments.

Plus, Richmond County has its own difficulties: It’s small. It’s rural. And …

“It’s a lot easier to attract a young person to an area where there’s a movie theater.”

Movie theaters aside, the problem is a serious one across North Carolina, she said. For one thing, the General Assembly mandated in 2016 that the size of classes in kindergarten through third grade shrink this year. That means more teachers may be needed if class rolls grow.

According to the mandate, class sizes may range from 19 to 24, but the average per school must be 21. (The legislature does not limit the size of classes at fourth grade or higher.)

It’s well known that smaller classes allow teachers to focus more attention on each student, raising the potential for success. But, educators and parents across the state have protested, shrinking class sizes means schools will need more classroom teachers and may resort to stealing positions from the arts and physical education. That would narrow children’s educational opportunities.

To compound the difficulty, potential teachers know the jobs they’ll train for will be low paid and high stress, so fewer young people are enrolling in teacher education. North Carolina pays less than many neighboring states, so it’s difficult to recruit teachers from outside, says the advocacy group Public Schools First NC. And new teachers just aren’t out there. In the University of North Carolina system alone, the group says, enrollment in education programs has fallen 30 percent since 2010.

Goodman and Julian Carter — who does the hiring for the district — met Monday to discuss ways to cope with difficulties the mandate might cause.

The target number of hires is a moving one, Goodman said, and she remains optimistic. After all, at the beginning of last week, the district needed 22 teachers, not just 17.

And there are plans for how to tackle the problem, at least in the short term.

“In some instances, we (will) start the year with a sub to get the class going and do it well,” she said. Each substitute — likely a retired teacher — would be certified but unlikely to want to complete the school year.

“As a last resort, we may even have to move teachers from school to school after class starts” and class rolls are counted, she said. That would be easier at the elementary level because such teachers are certified to teach all elementary grades.

But it doesn’t address what would happen if enrollment shifted midyear.

“We’re going to be OK,” Goodman said — especially since most schools don’t have more than one vacancy.

Goodman
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_CindyGoodman_cmyk.jpgGoodman

Daily Journal file photo Richmond County Schools is short 17 teachers, partly because of 2016 mandate to shrink class sizes in kindergarten through 3rd grade.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_skool.jpgDaily Journal file photo Richmond County Schools is short 17 teachers, partly because of 2016 mandate to shrink class sizes in kindergarten through 3rd grade.

By Christine S. Carroll

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Reach Christine Carroll at 910-817-2673.