VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Teacher retention has been a nationwide problem long before the pandemic, but has been emphasized by the struggles it brought on.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools recognized this in their own classrooms and decided to take action. How?
By creating new positions for staff as “teacher retention liaisons,” school officials hope to create intentional teacher-to-teacher support. This role is the liaison’s full focus, which was important for VBCPS to be able to accommodate. Adding the responsibility onto an existing role would defeat the sole purpose of creating the position: lack of time.
Teachers early in their careers say feeling overwhelmed with not having enough time to get tasks done is the main reason for burnout.
Teacher retention liaisons job isn’t an addition to an existing position, it’s 100% what they do. That means they have time to help with tasks that classic mentors don’t.
“I jumped into a lesson in co-taught with the new teacher,” explained one liaison. “The other day because she was having some management issues. We are on the job targeted support. We are bringing the professional development to these new teachers because they don’t have any extra time to, kind of, seek it on their own.”
From lesson planning, to navigating parent conversations, the former teachers are teaching teachers. It’s especially needed when navigating a pandemic that’s increased the rate of teacher burnout.
“It’s our biggest fear,” said Wyman. “Because we’re hoping that we’re going to be able to keep these teachers. We tell them all the time ‘If you can survive these two years, these three years, then you’re going to be amazed.’ They also have to navigate through all these crazy COVID protocols and how to deal with teaching in a pandemic. I just think that we’re just creating rockstars right now and they’re going to be amazing.”
Pressure does create diamonds, but this team of women is here to make sure the pressure doesn’t get to be too much. “We need good teachers to stay in this profession, despite how hard it is right now. We’re in a national teacher shortage and we’ve got to do everything we can to keep these teachers. Whatever it is we need to do, we’re going to do it.”
The initiative’s funding comes from an Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant that lasts for three years. During its second year, school leadership will review the program and determine if it should become part of the division’s operating budget.
Tiffany L. Young, teacher retention liaison with Virginia Beach City Public Schools, gave 10 On Your Side a statement about the value of the new positions:
“New teachers benefit from having multiple resources available to them, but at the same time, accessing help while managing the business of teaching can be overwhelming for new teachers. Educators have traditionally worked in an “all hands on deck” system, so the new role of TRL offers another layer of support, another set of hands. We don’t have a magic wand, but we tap into our experience, sometimes anticipating teachers’ needs and being prepared to assist based on historical and current educational trends and data. Additionally, our ability to move between buildings allows us to be accessible to multiple new teachers throughout the division. We help in whatever capacity they need, often through a collaborative effort with building leaders, mentors, and instructional specialists because each building, professional learning community, and teacher has a unique set of circumstances. But at the end of the day, we are still teachers. We are teachers helping teachers.”
Tiffany L. Young
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