‘We are in a crisis’

Discussion at Dare BOE meeting turns to teachers’ needs

In a year in which much of the public discourse at Dare County Board of Education meetings seemed to focus on concerns that ranged from mask mandates to Critical Race Theory, the discussion at the March 8 meeting pivoted to the needs of the district’s teachers.

A number of those in the audience, including several educators, called for a renewed focus on teacher support and retention, with some speakers during public comment cautioning that the inability of the system to retain teachers has reached “crisis” levels.

This comes as three elementary school principals – Greg Florence at Kitty Hawk Elementary, Jodie Mitchum at First Flight Elementary and Thomas McGeachy at Nags Head Elementary – have recently announced their retirements or resignations effective at the end of the school year. Dr. Lisa Colvin, Assistant Principal at Kitty Hawk Elementary, will become the new principal there while Kelly Flora has been named the new principal of Nags Head Elementary School.

Assistant Superintendent Sandy Kinzel has also confirmed her retirement, part of a noteworthy exodus of a number of teachers and staff in recent months. Dare County Superintendent of Schools John Farrelly announced at the March 8 meeting that Kinzel will be replaced by the district’s digital communications and secondary school director Keith Parker and Johanna Parker, the district’s director of innovation, who will both serve as assistant superintendents.

“As a stakeholder in the Dare County School system, along with being a substitute teacher, I am very concerned with teacher retention,” Kitty Hawk resident Marie Russell, a mother of three, stated at the meeting. “With over fifty teachers and administration retiring or not coming back, we are in a crisis.”

Russell, who also announced at the meeting that she plans to run for the District 3 seat on the Board of Education as an independent, continued by saying that teachers are not feeling supported and “are burned out and certainly not being paid enough for the amount of work that they do daily for our kids.”

Michel Sanchez, also a substitute teacher in Dare County Schools with two children in the system, echoed Russell’s sentiments, noting that she talks to teachers on a daily basis.

“I can tell you that they are extremely disillusioned, frustrated and are rapidly losing their passion for teaching because of the negative environment that has been created,” Sanchez told board members. “If we’re not careful, if we do not take action immediately, we’re going to find ourselves in a crisis situation. Teachers are going to retire or relocate or take other jobs in droves.”

Sanchez said that while she has been proud to teach in Dare County Schools, “we have strayed from the ideals and standards of a top-performing district.”

First Flight High School teacher Steve Hanf also addressed the board, asking that it “do everything in your power to address teacher supplements. Costs are not going down for everyday items, and when you add in housing costs and extras, such as wind and hail insurance, many of us lose money when we move here.”

Hanf also asked that the board find ways to add more support staff in each school, such as school counselors, psychologists and social workers.

Jessica Fearns, who said she plans to run as an independent for the District 2 seat on the board in the upcoming election, added: “Counties are losing teachers in droves and Dare County is no exception. We have to come up with some creative ways to attract new graduate teachers to our county and ways to retain the wonderful teachers we already have.”

Ali Berryman, a mother of four children in the Dare County Schools, said she would also like to hear more discussion at board meetings that address the needs of teachers. “For example,” Berryman said, “how to have a better system to get subs, to increase bonuses and maybe tax them differently, and also to have a full-time nurse in each school.”

During his report to the board, Farrelly offered some optimism about the prospect of an increase in teacher supplements being part of the 2022-2023 school budget that will be adopted in May. The budget will then go to the Dare County Board of Commissioners for approval.

Farrelly explained that the district was able to save an additional $2.6 million in local funds last year, adding that he plans to advocate for dedicating part of that to increasing local teacher supplements in the coming year.

Addressing teacher housing, another key factor in attracting teachers to the area, Farrelly said that plans by the Dare Education Foundation (DEF) to expand from 24 to 32 units at Run Hill Ridge in Kill Devil Hills, has paused due to DEF facing “mountainous challenges with being able to fund and expand projects.” Farrelly added that DEF is expected to update the board in April.