Faced with shortage, Volusia County School Board approves hiring of international teachers

The Volusia County School Board on Tuesday approved the hiring of international teachers in an effort to reduce a shortage.

The board OK'd a $1.36 million contract with TPG Cultural Exchange Services, LLC. Under the agreement, TPG would recruit English-speaking teachers from around the world and arrange to have them live in the United States on J-1 visas, serving three- to five-year stints in Volusia County Schools.

School Board Chairman Jamie Haynes said she first learned about TPG at a Florida School Boards Association conference.

"There’s nothing more important than educating our children," she said during a board workshop on Tuesday. "So if there are people from other countries that are willing to come here and they already have the knowledge and experience ... and they are willing to come here and teach, I welcome them and I look forward to meeting them.”

Mark West, the district's chief human resources officer, said the plan is to "start small," by hiring between 10 and 15 international teachers for the 2023-24 school year, although the contract allows for up to 25.

District officials will prioritize the hiring of teachers in areas of greatest need: math, science, exceptional student education and elementary, West said.

TPG has international teachers in 19 Florida school districts

David Voss, chief marketing officer for TPG, appeared at the school board workshop. He said the company has teachers in 19 other school districts across Florida.

The Duval district employs more than 100, he added.

“It’s a win-win. There’s no additional cost to taxpayers. We’re not replacing teachers," Voss said. "The schools win because you add diversity to staff. More and more students are going to get a teacher who looks like them. And that faculty diversity is very important."

Voss said the $1.36 million paid to TPG is offset because the district does not have to cover the visiting teachers' insurance, retirement and FICA payroll tax.

"That cost savings offsets the fee to TPG, which is paid to recruit, vet, train and sponsor these teachers through the J-1 visa process," Voss wrote in an email Wednesday. "It is at least cost neutral and typically a savings."

The district pays the teachers' salaries directly to the teachers.

More:Volusia school board considers hiring international teachers to address critical shortages

Board member Jessie Thompson asked what happens if the international teacher isn’t a good fit for the classroom to which they have been assigned.

Voss said teachers commit to three years and can stay for up to five if both parties agree to extend.

“Bottom line is they become your teachers. So the rules, the probations, the disciplinary, everything applies to them, just as it would a teacher from Indiana or Utah," he said.

If there are "serious, serious issues," TPG and the district will attempt to remedy the problem, which could result in a transfer, replacement or corrective action, he said. The district will have the same rights with regard to teachers on probationary status.

"We have a 93-95% retention rate, which is actually better than teachers out of college," Voss said.

Experienced teachers from places such as the Philippines, Jamaica or India will be the ones who apply to teach Americans. They typically have four or more years of experience and the confidence to teach in a foreign culture. 

Union president warns: 'It's a mixed bag'

During the regular school board meeting later Tuesday, when the contract was approved without discussion, Elizabeth Albert, president of the Volusia United Educators, raised questions about the plan to hire international teachers.

She tallied the contract cost and the estimated cost of hiring 10 to 15 international teachers.

“That’s roughly $2 million we’re investing in folks we don’t know anything about, quite frankly," Albert said.

What Albert said she learned from colleagues in other school districts: “It’s a mixed bag. And I can tell you that at least in Hernando County, the students in Hernando County are not reacting well to some of these folks. They are treating them very poorly. … It’s just not working really well.

"I would hate to bring someone to Volusia and have that same outcome for them,” Albert said.

“I’m just very concerned about this and I wonder what that $2 million would do if we invested it in our own folks,” she added.

Voss said Albert's comments are untrue, that Hernando's experience has gone "extremely well," and that district has requested to expand the number of foreign teachers it has hired.

He also said it's not true that school districts that hire international teachers recruited by TPG don't know anything about them. TPG, the Florida Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State all vet the teachers thoroughly.

During the earlier workshop, West said Volusia officials did their homework, researching TPG and other exchange programs.

"We’ve talked to a number of districts across the state of Florida that have actually used them. They’re tried and true. I’m just going to put it that way,” West said.

Nearly 200 teachers still needed

Volusia County Schools started the school year needing 272 teachers. Through December, that number had been reduced to 194, comprised of:

• core teachers, 45

• exceptional student education teachers, 59

• intermediate teachers, 16

• non-core teachers, 7

• primary teachers, 19

• support teachers, 48

So while the teacher shortage has been reduced by 28%, West acknowledged: "We still have a ways to go."

The district has also had a shortage of support staff, with 220 open positions through December, down from 347 at the year's start. These jobs include custodians, bus drivers and safety and security personnel. The area of greatest need, with 64 openings, is paraprofessionals − who work with teachers in classrooms but are not teachers.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County School Board votes to hire 10-15 international teachers