Finding the Best teachers and Administrators

Finding the Best Teachers and Administrators

There are many factors that contribute to an effective school: parental involvement, student/teacher ratios, building facilities, and of course the money needed for supplies and so many other things. Our inability to completely control most of these factors is a constant challenge to public education. Fortunately, the single most important factor in providing a quality education to our children is absolutely under our control: the hiring of certified teachers and administrators.

You would be hard pressed to find a competent school administrator who would not agree that hiring the best teachers and principals available is the single most effective thing we can do to improve our schools. It should be obvious to everyone that the only way to hire the best certified people available is to look for the best certified people available. In the 20 years I have served our school district, this has not been the case. Rather than recruit the best educators available, we tend to select them from friends, family, and acquaintances. It is common for us to fill next year’s openings in the spring even though the pool of certified educators to choose from is larger in the summer. Too often positions are filled before the public even knows they are open.

I have been in contact with top-performing school districts in Mississippi and other states and have found that they attribute much of their success to recruiting widely and aggressively. Simply putting an ad in the county paper(s) is not adequate. There is much more we can do.

Perhaps our best prospect for recruiting the best certified educators is just 22 miles up the road. Mississippi State University turns out a new batch of teachers and administrators year after year. We should be actively involved in trying to convince the best and brightest of them to come to Choctaw County to work with our children. We should maintain regular contact with the MSU College of Education and the university placement service to increase our pool of prospects. Our children deserve no less.

Top performing school districts use many more recruiting techniques. Nearly all of them post every job opening they have with the Mississippi Department of Education so that teachers from around the state are aware of their vacancies. Many districts advertise their openings in our state’s large, regional, daily newspapers as well as their local weekly papers. Also, it is not uncommon to find recruiters from the best districts setting up booths at job fairs throughout Mississippi, especially at every Mississippi university that offers a teacher education program. In addition to these methods, some superintendents told me they actually call top-notch teachers and administrators who are employed and not really looking to change in order to persuade them to consider coming to a new district. When I received National Certification in English, a neighboring county contacted me to see if I’d be interested in working for them. We should be doing the same.

If I am elected Superintendent I pledge to do everything I can to actively recruit the best educators to work with our children. I will never settle for whoever is handy. If you’re leaning toward other candidates, ask them if they too are committed to finding the best available certified educators to work in Choctaw County. If they’re not, find a candidate who is. It is time for the public to take back our public schools.

Until next time, may God bless you and your children.
Bob Mamrak