In a press conference last week recapping her first year on the job, Dr. Denise Watts, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System Superintendent, signaled that she is willing to look at any and all new ideas to recruit and retain teachers.
Teacher recruitment and retention is one of the most important issues facing SCCPSS. “The problem is not just current teachers exiting the field, it’s that there are fewer people entering the profession to replace them,” said Dr. Denise Watts. “You can’t talk about teacher recruitment without talking about teacher retention.”
Teachers who top out at 24 to 26 years of experience no longer receive pay increases based on years of service. This can result in highly-skilled teachers leaving the profession or transferring to private schools after they max out on the pay scale. Additionally, it can discourage seasoned teachers from other districts from wanting to teach in SCCPSS schools. Of the pay scale Watts says, “right now, it is imperfect, it is what we have, that’s not enough. … I hope that our community will understand that state funding does not provide for the money to do a lot of these significant changes.” Watts continues, “… if we are really committed, if our audio and our video matches, everyone says that they support public education, everyone says that teachers should be paid more, but that requires an investment from everyone.” “The litmus test for me is when my own two boys are deciding on jobs and careers, I had to actually hold myself back a little bit from encouraging them from going into the field that I have grown up in and loved … and that is not something that I am proud of or something that I want for any current teacher or future teacher.”
Watts is not alone. A recent study showed that fewer than one in five Americans would encourage a young person to become a K-12 teacher.
When school districts can’t attract and retain enough teachers, students suffer. According to the Economic Policy Institute, in 2022, teachers made on average 26.4 percent less than other similarly-educated professionals; in Georgia that number was even worse at 28.3 percent less. Research done by The Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that Georgia ranks 33rd in the country for per-pupil spending. That means in-classroom support, resources, and professional development opportunities are also limited for Georgia school teachers. Another reason teachers are leaving the profession is a lack of respect combined with a culture often plagued by toxic work environments.
“What I encourage them (teachers) to do is to reach out because one of the things that will support culture and climate, which supports teacher retention, is having a voice. People are willing to not necessarily have the compensation that they need if they are in a supportive climate and culture,” says Watts. “Compensation is a part of that, but the culture is another very important part of that.” “We have to acknowledge it when it is done well—because we want to celebrate and highlight ‘this is when it really worked,’ because then people replicate that—and on the other side of that is we have to hold people accountable when it doesn’t. If I see any retaliation or someone creating conditions in which someone doesn’t feel psychologically safe to share something, we have to be willing to address that head-on because when you don’t, it festers and that is how it becomes a part of the culture, when it is not addressed.”
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This article appears in Connect Savannah I June 2024.
“It is a chipping away process. Culture and climate are not a one-fell-swoop solution, we all have to demonstrate that we are willing to listen, that people are entitled to their perspective and their opinions about things, whether we agree or disagree with them …” says Watts.
Hilarious that Dr. Watts speaks like this in a “public” interview but fails when it counts. As a current teacher in her district, I’ve tried to communicate with her at least 4 times about issues in SCCPSS. Shockingly, not really, I’ve yet to hear back from Dr. Watts. Once in November email – no response, December TOTY Senate Meeting – no show, BOE meeting – no response, and June email – again, no response.
She’s such a different person in public interviews. That’s interesting, right?