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County natives among new teachers
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NEWS-TIMES
CHERYL BURKE
CAPE CARTERET — Averi Henderson, 22, fondly remembers her days as a student in the Carteret County public school system.
“My teachers had a profound impact on my life,” said Ms. Henderson.
Now Ms. Henderson hopes to make her own impact on students at White Oak Elementary School. The third-grade teacher started her first teaching job on Monday.
Ms. Henderson, who attended Newport Elementary, Broad Creek Middle and Croatan High schools, is one of several first-year teachers in the county who are products of the county school system.
“More than half of our first-year teachers this year came through the Carteret County school system and decided to come home,” said Bennett Myers, personnel director for the county school system.
There are 50 new teachers in the county school system this year, with only 14 hired straight out of college. The rest are veteran teachers.
Ms. Myers said the number of new hires, including those who just graduated, is about half what is normally hired because the state cut teaching positions.
Because so many experienced teachers applied, including teachers who lost jobs in other systems due to economic-related cutbacks, fewer recent college graduates were hired.
“We had a lot of experienced teachers apply for jobs. Some of them had lost jobs in other places or were new to the area. When we are given a choice, most of the time we will go with the more experienced teachers.”
Because the county school system enjoys a good reputation with above-average test scores and its location at the beach, Ms. Myers said there is no shortage of qualified applicants looking to come to the county.
“We definitely have a lot of applications and can definitely have our own pick of the best,” said Ms. Myers.
She added that those hired right out of college this year were some of the best.
“We definitely got the cream of the crop,” she said.
Among the first-year teachers is on in the N.C. Teaching Fellow program, a state scholarship program designed to recruit, train and retain top teachers.
Although Ms. Henderson didn’t come through the Teaching Fellows program, she graduated valedictorian of her class at N.C. State University.
Hiring top teachers is only half the battle, however. The other half is keeping them. To help with that problem, the state mandated several years ago that each school district offer a mentoring program, which provides new teachers a more experienced teacher as a mentor.
Mentors are assigned to new teachers for three years to help them through many of the challenges of the classroom. After their third successful year of teaching, new teachers receive their Standard Professional 2 license, which is what they operate under the remainder of their teaching career.
But those first three years can be a challenge for a teacher fresh out of college, and that’s where mentors come in.
“Mentors provide a sounding board for new teachers and offer advice and suggestions,” Ms. Myers said.
Ms. Henderson’s mentor is Gina Dunn, a first-grade teacher who has 16 years teaching experience. Ms. Dunn said she volunteered for the mentor program because she wanted to help young teachers.
“I wanted to be able to encourage and support young teachers to stay in the profession,” she said. “Those first three to five years are the toughest.”
Ms. Dunn said one of the toughest things for new teachers is the amount of extra paperwork and programs that aren’t related to actual teaching time in the classroom.
“A lot of programs and paperwork eat up their teaching time,” she said.
Ms. Henderson said having a mentor has helped her tremendously.
“It has been a wonderful experience and reassuring to have someone coming to me with supplies and helpful advice,” she said.
Despite the challenges of those first few years, Ms. Myers said Carteret enjoys a good track record in retaining new teachers.
“We have a great retention rate and lose very few of our beginning teachers,” Ms. Myers said. “I attribute that to the support of the central office and the many natives who come home to the county.”
One program that has helped boost the number of teachers who are native to the county is the Wachovia Partnership East program, a teaching program offered through East Carolina University in partnership with state community colleges.
The partnership allows students to take the first two years of their four-year teaching degree at a community college, with the last two through ECU online courses, at an East Carolina University hub campus in New Bern or three other locations around the state.
“Students can save a lot of money in tuition and housing by going this route,” said Ms. Myers, who added that several county teachers have come through the program.
While Ms. Henderson didn’t go through that program, she believed N.C. State prepared her for the rigors of the teaching profession.
“I’m actually part of the second graduating class in elementary education at N.C. State,” she said. “I definitely feel I was given the tools to be a third-grade teacher.”
Other challenges that Ms. Myers said the school system faces in keeping teachers is the high cost of housing in the county.
“We had one teacher who came from Ohio who stayed in a motel for a while because they couldn’t find affordable housing,” she said.
The state salary for a beginning teacher is $30,430, which makes it hard to afford rent.
For Ms. Henderson, she is living at her family’s home until she can find a place she can afford.
CAPE CARTERET — Averi Henderson, 22, fondly remembers her days as a student in the Carteret County public school system.
“My teachers had a profound impact on my life,” said Ms. Henderson.
Now Ms. Henderson hopes to make her own impact on students at White Oak Elementary School. The third-grade teacher started her first teaching job on Monday.
Ms. Henderson, who attended Newport Elementary, Broad Creek Middle and Croatan High schools, is one of several first-year teachers in the county who are products of the county school system.
“More than half of our first-year teachers this year came through the Carteret County school system and decided to come home,” said Bennett Myers, personnel director for the county school system.
There are 50 new teachers in the county school system this year, with only 14 hired straight out of college. The rest are veteran teachers.
Ms. Myers said the number of new hires, including those who just graduated, is about half what is normally hired because the state cut teaching positions.
Because so many experienced teachers applied, including teachers who lost jobs in other systems due to economic-related cutbacks, fewer recent college graduates were hired.
“We had a lot of experienced teachers apply for jobs. Some of them had lost jobs in other places or were new to the area. When we are given a choice, most of the time we will go with the more experienced teachers.”
Because the county school system enjoys a good reputation with above-average test scores and its location at the beach, Ms. Myers said there is no shortage of qualified applicants looking to come to the county.
“We definitely have a lot of applications and can definitely have our own pick of the best,” said Ms. Myers.
She added that those hired right out of college this year were some of the best.
“We definitely got the cream of the crop,” she said.
Among the first-year teachers is on in the N.C. Teaching Fellow program, a state scholarship program designed to recruit, train and retain top teachers.
Although Ms. Henderson didn’t come through the Teaching Fellows program, she graduated valedictorian of her class at N.C. State University.
Hiring top teachers is only half the battle, however. The other half is keeping them. To help with that problem, the state mandated several years ago that each school district offer a mentoring program, which provides new teachers a more experienced teacher as a mentor.
Mentors are assigned to new teachers for three years to help them through many of the challenges of the classroom. After their third successful year of teaching, new teachers receive their Standard Professional 2 license, which is what they operate under the remainder of their teaching career.
But those first three years can be a challenge for a teacher fresh out of college, and that’s where mentors come in.
“Mentors provide a sounding board for new teachers and offer advice and suggestions,” Ms. Myers said.
Ms. Henderson’s mentor is Gina Dunn, a first-grade teacher who has 16 years teaching experience. Ms. Dunn said she volunteered for the mentor program because she wanted to help young teachers.
“I wanted to be able to encourage and support young teachers to stay in the profession,” she said. “Those first three to five years are the toughest.”
Ms. Dunn said one of the toughest things for new teachers is the amount of extra paperwork and programs that aren’t related to actual teaching time in the classroom.
“A lot of programs and paperwork eat up their teaching time,” she said.
Ms. Henderson said having a mentor has helped her tremendously.
“It has been a wonderful experience and reassuring to have someone coming to me with supplies and helpful advice,” she said.
Despite the challenges of those first few years, Ms. Myers said Carteret enjoys a good track record in retaining new teachers.
“We have a great retention rate and lose very few of our beginning teachers,” Ms. Myers said. “I attribute that to the support of the central office and the many natives who come home to the county.”
One program that has helped boost the number of teachers who are native to the county is the Wachovia Partnership East program, a teaching program offered through East Carolina University in partnership with state community colleges.
The partnership allows students to take the first two years of their four-year teaching degree at a community college, with the last two through ECU online courses, at an East Carolina University hub campus in New Bern or three other locations around the state.
“Students can save a lot of money in tuition and housing by going this route,” said Ms. Myers, who added that several county teachers have come through the program.
While Ms. Henderson didn’t go through that program, she believed N.C. State prepared her for the rigors of the teaching profession.
“I’m actually part of the second graduating class in elementary education at N.C. State,” she said. “I definitely feel I was given the tools to be a third-grade teacher.”
Other challenges that Ms. Myers said the school system faces in keeping teachers is the high cost of housing in the county.
“We had one teacher who came from Ohio who stayed in a motel for a while because they couldn’t find affordable housing,” she said.
The state salary for a beginning teacher is $30,430, which makes it hard to afford rent.
For Ms. Henderson, she is living at her family’s home until she can find a place she can afford.
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whaoo wrote on Aug 29, 2009 11:23 PM:
This is just wonderful. I think if Carteret County Schools had more "homegrown" employees it would be icing on the cake! "