By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com
The Lee County Board of Education in late June rolled out a new plan designed to address the nagging problem of starting school in August with nearly a hundred teacher and support personnel positions vacant across the district.
It’s an issue that has been reported in virtually every school district in the state over the past fifty years, and one that has defied a solution for decades. But local school board leaders have come up with a new approach they hope will turn things around. What makes this new spin different is the way it will use teachers and support personnel already working in Lee County Schools to identify the right people to fill the critical slots that today remain empty.
It’s called the Employee Referral Bonus Plan, and it’s open to teachers and staff employed by Lee County Schools who can recruit the right persons to fill these vacant positions, and if that person recruited actually gets a job within the school system and stays there until at least the end of February of 2024, both the new employee and the current one who referred them could receive one-time cash bonuses of up to $2,000 apiece.
Current Lee County Schools employees are eligible to nominate an individual they know, if the current employee can meet of the following eligibility criteria:
*Must be a certified or classified employee in the Lee County Schools district.
*Must have an annual salary of less than $75,000
*Must not be working in the Finance or Human Resources offices, and
*Must not be a school-based administrator or their spouse.
How it will work
The school board’s plan was reviewed by its Finance Committee on June 20 and recommended for approval to the full board at its meeting ten days later. In the board’s packet of information for the June 30 meeting, the administrative staff noted that “fulfilling essential services for our students is becoming increasingly challenging” and this three-month bonus opportunity is an attempt to address staff vacancies that have been vacant for extended periods.
The referral plan will operate for only three months (July 1 through September 30) of this year and will be capped at payments of no more than $5,000 per person who makes a successful referral, and at $125,000 for the total of all payouts made through the program. Bonuses will be paid to the LCS employee and the new hire in split payments during November and February if the new hire is still employed at the time payments are to be made.
Eligible LCS employees and the newly hired employees will receive bonuses as follows for successful recruits to the district:
$500 for each Classified hire
$1,000 for each Certified hire
$2,000 for each Certified hire at any of the four low-performing schools: J.R. Ingram Elementary, East and West Lee middle schools, and Lee County High School
The program is not seeking teachers in general, but rather is targeted to fill vacancies in specific discipline areas, including teachers in English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, EC, and Pre-K, excluding CTE, Elective, and Enhancement teachers.
The range of classified employees is considerably wider, and these include Instructional Assistant/Bus Driver; Custodian/Bus Driver; Child Nutrition employees; EC Assistant/Bus Driver; ESL Assistant/Bus Driver; Maintenance; Bus Garage; and Technology.
When the snapshot of vacancies was made on June 30 for the school board’s use, a total of 40 vacant fulltime teaching positions at 16 campuses were reported in the Lee County Schools district. Two-thirds of those vacant positions (27) were reported at the four low-performing schools: JR Ingram, East and West Lee Middle, and Lee County High. It also reported 52 vacancies in classified positions, with Ingram and LCHS again among those reporting the highest numbers. Those positions considered to be classified staff are those that do not need a license or certificate to be considered as eligible for employment at schools or within the system.
The 90-day push to attract and retain employees to fill these vacant positions will be funded by dollars available to the school system as part of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief programs.
The clock has started
This new initiative is the latest attempt by the school board to address the nagging problem of filling long-term vacancies in classroom and important support positions. It’s an issue that expresses itself in two ways: first, in recruiting the best available teachers and support staff to work in the Lee County Schools district and, secondly, in keeping them here.
With the school board’s unanimous approval of the Employee Referral Bonus Plan on June 30, the program is now up and running. The board’s next meeting is scheduled for July 18 and though no agenda has yet been published, an update could be requested or given at that time.
But here’s why filling these long-term vacancies across Lee County’s schools is such a pressing issue today: Faculty and students will go back to school in less than five weeks’ time. A decision by the school board in the spring to move back the starting date for traditional calendar students and faculty from August 28 to 14 means there will be two fewer weeks available to fill any remaining vacancies among the roster of teachers than there have been in previous years.
Still, it’s a wholly different approach with the virtue of never having been tried, and the school board has shown through its first six months of existence that it’s not afraid to throw out convention and try something new.
“I think this is just a great project. I really do,” said Republican school board chair Sherry Womack.
Democratic board member Jamie Laudate expressed his gratitude to Interim Superintendent Dr. Chris Dossenbach for coming up with a new approach to an old problem.
“I’m particularly impressed with the targeted nature of this program, to fill our most difficult positions, and I’m excited about it,” he said.
By the first of October, the school board – and more importantly, the public – will know whether or not the program has had the kind of impact it hopes for. From a financial perspective, it’s a very inexpensive approach. If every dollar in its $125,000 budget were to be spent over the project’s 90-day lifespan, it would still represent just 0.003 percent of the district’s total COVID-19 relief funding.
Could it be there are problems within the school system that no one wants to work there ? ?
Could it be the board of education?
Could it be teachers need to be paid more? Then, they may stay. They sure are not getting paid for what they went to school for and what they do in the classroom. Further, they are not getting paid to keep up with the economy. Instead of doing incentives pay teachers what they go to school for and they will stay in the classroom. Most cannot take care of their families off the pay today.
Curious, on average what do teachers make yearly
Asking – Not enough for going to college for a minimum of 4 years, then having to babysit around 30 kids 5 days a week for about 9 months a year. All the while trying to educate a few that are wanting to learn, while the remainder are just there because they have to be. Then add in that they have to also deal with the disruptive few that have never been taught to respect others. No sir, you couldn’t pay me enough.
Sounds like a lot to deal with, plus having to deal with the parents , who can be worse than their kids I’ve heard , too much drama for me !
As someone who has experience working in both education and the private sector, I can assure everyone teachers get paid very well for what they do.
I started off getting paid more as a teacher than I did working a job I earned a four year degree in. After a few short years, after including stipends and bonuses, I was making 67% more as a teacher than my previous job.
Teaching is a 10 month job. Teachers get paid for their 10 months of work. They also work eight hours or less a day and get all federal holidays off. The problem is teachers do not know how to save. Of course when you drive a brand new car, stop for Starbucks every morning, eat out for lunch 2-3 times a week, eat out for dinner every night, carry expensive purses, wear designer clothes, live in fancy houses or apartments, or take at least one week long vacation every year it looks like you’re getting paid very little for what you do.
My dad had a masters degree with 30yrs of teaching under his belt when he made right at $30,000 his last year or so which ended in 1982. Taking inflation into account that $30,000 would be about $95,000 today. Now my Dad coached and taught Drivers Ed so we worked more than 10 months out of the year. I spoke with a teacher with similar credentials and was told she was making in the mid 50’s. You seem to have a misogynistic attitude judging by the way you describe teachers wasting money living the good life. You might want to work on that attitude problem.
First off, I am a female. Second, I said nothing misogynistic. Since your father was a teacher, you should be aware there are male teachers in our school system as well. I see the male and female teachers alike making lavish purchases every day.
The average annual salary for a teacher in 1960 was $4,995. When adjusted for inflation, that equals $51,487.14 in 2023. This is close to the mid-50’s your friend mentioned. The school system no longer offers pay increases for master’s degree or higher. Why should they? Anything higher than a bachelor’s isn’t necessary for what we teach.
My mother was a teacher and I can assure you she worked twice as hard as I, or other teachers today work. She actually had to plan her lessons. Today, our school system buys pre-packaged curriculum that tells us what to teach, how to teach it, and when to teach it. We live in a world of technology. We can use the internet to research anything we want to teach in a matter of seconds while my mother had to use the library and write everything by hand, She also had 2-3 times the amount of students we have today. I look at my class of 12-15 students and can’t imagine what it was like for her to have 32+ students in a class.
Until you have stepped foot in a classroom and taught, maybe you should refrain from judging others and questioning their attitudes. You’re probably one of the parents we have to suffer with who sends their undisciplined child to class everyday and then denies any wrong doing as your child is a perfect little angel.
You know you put your email address in here when you commented, right?
Every teacher isn’t living a lavish lifestyle. I know several teachers, and they don’t do any of the things you listed. They have roommates, second jobs, and/or live very frugally.
There are three main reasons why no one wants to teach.
1. The pay in comparison to other jobs that require similar education is low. I know people in various fields that require a 4-year degree + continuing education and training just like teachers. They all make considerably more than the teachers I know. Also, once teachers hit step 15 they don’t get a pay increase for 10 years.
2. Some (not all) students are disruptive, entitled and/or apathetic. Parents and the public blame teachers, but the problems start at home. One disruptive student can ruin the educational experience for an entire class. There is only so much a teacher can do. Imagine going to work knowing that one person is going to make it almost impossible for you to do your job. Imagine two or three people disrupting your workday…every day. Who wants to spend thousands of dollars to enter a field knowing they could be physically attacked for any reason or no reason at all?
3. There is too much emphasis on standardized testing. Teachers are being measured by how students perform on a test that they don’t care about and for which they have no incentive to pass. There are more problems with these tests but that is for another post.
truth1000, something not often mentioned is the challenge teachers that teach elective classes face when their students are not similar in learning ability. How tough it must be to craft a lesson where the entire class gets something out of it.
I’m not sure where you worked, but at my school, teachers work 8+ hours, though most of us work 9 or more not including at least an hour at home most nights and several hours on Sunday. We do not get an actual lunch break. We have to eat while supervising our students, and we can’t even use the bathroom unless we can grab someone to watch our kids. I’m okay with what I make, but as someone with a masters degree and doctoral level work, I could make more elsewhere. There are several studies that show people don’t leave teaching (or most jobs) because of the money but because of the working conditions. We need to look at that if we are going to keep good teachers and attract new ones.
Edumuhkashun, sorry but my son was one of the kids that helped with test scores and made the teachers look good. He went on to UNC and earned JD and MPH degrees as well as two undergraduate degrees. The problem with your agrument is there is a teacher shortage. You say teachers make plenty of money for what they do yet there is still a shortage. North Carolina ranks 34th nationwide in average teacher pay and 46th in beginning teacher pay. North Carolina is not Mississippi so we should expect better. As far as living beyond their means is concerned, good luck finding a decent place to rent for under $1000 per month. Good luck finding a dependable used car for under $20,000. If you want to buy a house you are looking at $200,000 for a starter home. Women can be misogynistic by the way. Heck North Carolina’s Lt. Governor is African American and he constantly spews racist, homophopic, and misgynictics comments from his big loud mouth on a daily basis.