Here is another Jay Mathews column that present a tragic situation at a local elementary school. However, Mathews column describes regular problems that seem to crop up at area schools.
The problems stems from the entire fourth-grade faculty leaving the school--four teachers. The district's chief human resources officer could not remember anything like it in 30 years. Fine, admittedly the situation is probably unique, but here is why the four teachers left. Two teachers were not certified, one was promoted to another county job and the fourth, ... left for "personal reasons." Congrats to the teacher who got promotoed, but why on earth was 50% of a school's fourth grade teachers hired without certification? I know that schools struggle to find certified teachers and sometimes hired on a provisional basis until the teacher can get certification, but two in the same grade?
School systems routine cannot get certified teachers to fill positions. I am not sure why--perhaps someone out there can tell me--but I do know that the system cannot continue. Prince George's County has a lot of problems, but lack of smart talent is not one of them. The state's flagship university--The University of Maryland-College Park is in the county, complete with a spectacular school of education. There are literally hundreds or thousands of Ph.D' working at the NASA Goddard Space Center in the northern part of the county. The state's capitol in Annapolis is a short 30 minute drive away--in traffic.
No, rather I think the problem is emphasis. With so many students so low on the socio-economic ladder, the school system needs to emphasize work with those students. Partnerships with local businesses, government agencies and the University of Maryland can supply teaching talent--usually on a volunteer basis, so that work can be done to improve these student's lives and education. But to me, it seems unlikely that such an effort will occur.
When All the Fourth-Grade Teachers Quit (washingtonpost.com)
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