Niagara Falls, NY (WBEN) Governor Hochul's State of the State address included a focus on recruiting and keeping teachers as well as having more mental health professionals in schools across New York State.
The proposal and emphasis is getting passing grades from one local public education leader who hopes it will address a shortage of good and qualified teachers.
During her address, Hochul noted, "the role of the teacher is irreplaceable in a child's life, and as we've seen over the last two years, the role of the teacher is irreplaceable in the life of a parent." She says he'll ramp up efforts to recruit and retain teachers with more effective training, faster and earlier certification and a stronger career pipeline.
"It's a noble and great profession. We certainly need teachers, we certainly have quite a substitute shortage everywhere across WNY and the state, and we need to bolster those coming into the profession," says Niagara Falls Schools Superintendent Mark Laurrie. Laurrie says one practice he'd like the state to look at is a residency type program. "This is for people crossing careers. It's like if you were a doctor, spending a year, shadowing and following a doctor," explains Laurrie. "I can't think of a better way to indoctrinate and to promote the hiring of teachers than through a residency."
Hochul is also looking at adding mental health professionals in schools. "We will add mental health professionals to help heal the wounds from the isolation of remote healing," says Hochul. Laurrie says it's spot on. "I think it is the key position to bring into school. 4 years ago, we had zero social workers, today we have 12. They critical quarterbacks in our schools," says Laurrie.
Laurrie says the trauma everyone suffered from COVID won't go away easily or quickly, so an emphasis is needed surrounding mental health. He adds teachers can help. "We have to retrain our teachers so everybody in our building is a mental health professional," explains Laurrie. "We cannot outhire the trauma that has been caused by COVID, so we have to redefine the role of every person in our building to be a mental health professional. That will take resources and training."
Laurrie says making pathways more purposeful is the right way to go in bringing in more teachers.
