District Staff

—STAFF HIRING—

Update: Staffing plan approved 3/25/14

(3/22/14) With the newfound millions from the Outlet Mall, the School Board is looking to hire new teachers, a new assistant principal, and 4 new instructional coaches. “What is an ‘instructional coach’?” you may ask. Basically, they are good teachers plucked out of the classroom and hired to teach teachers how to teach. Then new teachers have to be hired to fill these teachers’ vacated classrooms.

Some obvious questions arise: What were teachers doing during their 4 years of college, student teaching, continuing education, department meetings, collaboration with fellow teachers, etc., that they need instructional coaches? If they don’t know how to teach, why are we paying them, on average, over $80,000/yr base salary? Instructional coaches are an unproven novelty, the latest fad in educational bureaucracy.

Not everyone supports the idea of instructional coaches. Dr. Terry Stoops, the Director of Education Studies at the John Locke Foundation in North Carolina, calls them what they are: consultants. He too questions their necessity. He concludes his article, “A Cacophony of Coaches” by saying, “Indeed, coaches are simply another way that the state’s education establishment feigns innovation and reinforces the status quo.”

Out of 11 new FTEs (full time employees) recommended by Administration for the next school year, ONLY 3 ARE TEACHERS.