St. Landry School District hires firm to help recruit foreign teachers

The St. Landry Parish School Board has agreed to pay for staffing agency employment assistance which will help the District hire teachers from other countries in order to complete classroom staffing needs.

Personnel director Matthew Scruggins told board members during a special Monday night meeting that the District is particularly interested in employing certified high school mathematics teachers whose availability for employment and content-area competency will be identified by the staffing agency.

The decision approved by all but one of the 13 board members enables the District to hire IDreamAmericaStaffingServices,LLC, which will review the qualifications and documentation of prospective teachers and use a law firm familiar with immigration law to negotiate potential issues with the U.S. Office of Immigration, Scruggins pointed out.

Board member Bianca Vedell said during the meeting that she still has a number of questions about whether the District should enter into the staffing service agreement. Vedell abstained as a vote was taken on whether to hire the agency.

According to the agreement, the District will pay a maximum of $12,000 for the agency to arrange the necessary visa processing and attorney’s fees associated with the employment of the teachers who will assigned to jobs beginning this year, said Scruggins.

The IDreamAmerica Staffing Services website indicates the company acts primarily as an employment broker for residents of the Philippines who are interested in coming to teach in America.

The website also indicates that the staffing service has also entered into a partnership with attorney Nicholas Caraquel, who will handle possible legal questions and negotiate the arrival of the teachers into the U.S. with customs officials.

Teachers who are hired to work in American classrooms by the agency qualify for employment by having bachelor’s and master’s degrees, three years of classroom teaching experience and a valid teaching license, according to the website.

Under the agreement with the District, the staffing company is responsible for reviewing the qualifications and documentation of the foreign teacher applicants and scheduling interviews with the St. Landry school officials.

A separate agreement between the District and the staffing agency also enables the assurance that the teachers will arrive safely in the United States.

While the District has hired foreign teachers in the past, Scruggins told board members that this is the first time that he has orchestrated this type of legal and visa processing arrangement with an outside firm that helps with the recruitment of the classroom instructors.

“They (the agency) recruit the candidates for us and sends us a list of the teachers. We select the ones we want and then do a Zoom interview with (school) principals present. We have the choice to select the personnel relative to the work visas,” Scruggins explained.

Teachers hired through the agency search will have at least three years to remain in the United States, due to the time limitations involved with their work visas. However it is possible that the teaching candidates can also apply for an extended time for their visas, said Scruggins.

Board member Raymond Cassimere recalled that when he was a high school principal, teachers from foreign countries performed well in the classroom.

“I thought the ones that I was associated with always did a great job. Right now we have to do something, especially after what happened last year at Opelousas High,” Cassimere said.

School officials at Opelousas High complained to board members during a regular meeting earlier this year that the school was experiencing a severe shortage of teachers in the math department.

Angela Cassimere, supervisor of curriculum and instruction, told the Board that the top five prospective teaching candidates interviewed so far have displayed sufficient fluency with English and mathematics content knowledge.

“They have also shown a desire to want to teach and teach in an American classroom,” Angela Cassimere pointed out.

Newly-appointed St. Landry School Superintendent Milton Batiste III who unofficially sat in during the meeting, said the District should move forward with the staffing agency agreement.

The participation by Batiste, whose contract is still under negotiation with the St. Landry District, was urged by Willie Singleton-Guillory, president of the St. Landry Federation of Teachers.

“It is the opinion of the union that this is an issue that is paramount right now. The union would also like to see the new superintendent in on these types of decisions. I think we would be remiss if we did not have (Batiste) involved,” Singleton-Guillory told board members.

Board member Robert Gautreaux said he is in favor of hiring teachers through the staffing agency.

“It is better to have a live body in the classroom as long as they are vetted properly before we hire them,” said Gautreaux.

This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: St. Landry School District hires firm to help recruit foreign teachers