Florida’s third-smallest school district has a math problem, in the words of its local newspaper. Two of its three math teachers have settled in larger cities. The third is leaving for a nearby rural community.
The Apalachicola Times reports the Franklin County school district is scrambling to recruit replacements. A $2,000 signing bonus has not been sufficient. Collective bargaining rules prevent the school board from offering more. And a housing shortage makes it harder to attract young educators.
The district might turn to an option more Florida schools are using to expand their course offerings. Virtual learning labs, operated by the statewide public virtual school, allow students to access remote teachers and online curricula. Teachers assistants can provide in-person help.
[Franklin County Schools Superintedent Traci] Moses said the learning lab concept has been used successfully in other districts. As it is envisioned now, students in Algebra II, Geometry, College Ready Math and Liberal Arts Math, and possibly the middle school courses if no teacher can be found, would work in a computer lab linked to a Florida Virtual School (FLVS) certified math instructor off-site.
He or she would communicate directly with the students, who would work at their own pace as they move through the material.
Franklin County is home to two public schools. One is a K-12 school operated by the district. The other is a relatively successful K-8 charter school. The charter offers a teaching assistant in every grade. It often recruits those assistants into full-fledged teaching jobs. That creates a new teacher pipeline. Still, the charter school doesn’t have the challenge of finding candidates for high school, where subject matter expertise comes at a premium — especially in math and science.
Teacher recruitment is a real challenge for rural districts. Other rural districts have cited the issue when they presented turnaround plans to the state board of education. But the experience in Franklin County might also puncture the myth that expanding educational options is a non-starter in rural communities.
[…] is the virtual school option a “solution to the rural teacher shortage”, as my friends at redefinED suggested? The short answer is “no”, although it requires some […]