District to look at teacher hiring, screening program for New Haven School

A PowerPoint slide lists the goals of the leadership program Superintendent Anthony Orr described at the Nelson County board of education work session on Jan. 7.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, 10 a.m. — In an effort to improve staff retention and to develop teacher leadership in the district’s schools, Superintendent Anthony Orr has proposed a pilot program at New Haven School that will focus on recruiting and retaining qualified, high quality teachers and promoting leadership development.

Superintendent Anthony Orr describes a leadership program that said he would like to propose at the next board meeting on Jan. 19.

The program will create an additional screening step in the selection process for teachers who wish to teach at the New Haven School.

If approved, teaching positions at New Haven not presently filled by a teacher with tenure will be advertised as vacant. New Haven teachers who do not have tenure would be welcomed to apply to participate in the program, Orr said.

The school’s site-based council will continue to hire teachers; the difference is that teachers who wish to teach at New Haven will be required to participate in the program. After the screening process, the district will forward its recommendations on to the site-based council.

Applicants for the program would need to meet several requirements.

– Applicants must be pursuing (or be willing to pursue) an advanced instructional leadership degree or certification (such as principal, instructional coach, special education, etc.). The school district would assist successful candidates by paying tuition for one graduate-level course per semester.

– Applicants must complete a screening process at Central Office Orr called “dispositional screening,” a formal process to gauge an applicant’s disposition or mindset in becoming a quality teacher.

– Applicants selected for a job will be required to agree to a two or three-year commitment.

“That will help bring stability to a school like New Haven where you’ve had a lot of staff turnover,” Orr said of the commitment requirement.

After recent discussions with the school’s council, Orr said he believed the site-based council would welcome the assistance in selecting high-quality teachers.

“We’re not telling the school you have to hire the individual, we’re just saying ‘This one’s quality, you need to give serious consideration to putting this person in place,” Orr explained.

Board member Diane Berry listens during discussions at the Jan. 7 board of education work session.

Teachers hired in this program would be assigned a teacher leadership role at the school, and would receive additional coaching and feedback.

Orr said developing leadership skills among teachers will encourage teachers to move into leadership positions in the district when they occur and make sure those who do are ready to lead. Teaching now is much more collaborative, and leadership skills are necessary for creating effective collaboration among teachers.

If the program receives board approval, Orr said he would like to see the program launched first at the New Haven School. Old Kentucky Home Middle School could also benefit from the leadership program, he said.

The cost of graduate scholarships for participants would be $15-20,000. “It would be a really wise investment,” Orr said.

Orr said he believes that once the program is in place, teachers who come into the program will wind up staying longer than the initial commitment. The program’s goal is to bring quality teachers in the district and retain them.

“What we don’t know is if we’ll have three people apply for this or 30 people apply for this,” Orr said. Due to the district’s commitment to help fund graduate coursework, the number of people allowed in the program will be limited to about 10, depending on the district’s budget.

A formal presentation will be presented to the board at its meeting 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19.

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