Officials talk 'human element'

PORTALES - Recent funding for raises helps, but recruiting and keeping teachers is not all about money. In discussions Thursday morning before the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, state and local officials spoke to those challenges and the efforts they make to address them.

Superintendents for both Clovis and Portales municipal school districts noted a decline in student enrollment in recent years and spoke to different approaches toward serving the needs of both teachers and students.

PMS Superintendent Johnnie Cain said he is content, overall, with the state of things. Funds from this year's legislative session put about $3 million toward his district, allowing raises to a minimum of $12 per hour for most school employees and a minimum salary of $60,000 for certain ancillary staff.

"I'm not here to complain today, I'm actually pretty happy," he told committee members during a presentation in their multi-day session at Eastern New Mexico University's Golden Student Success Center.

Cain and CMS Superintendent Renee Russ both said their districts were struggling in maintaining their bilingual programs.

"We haven't had that much of a problem (retaining teachers)," Cain told The News. "This year we had quite a few more leave and a lot of those were retirements, but we have a pretty solid staff here. Really our population is pretty stable. I haven't noticed some of the problems (other districts) are talking about as far as retention, but recruitment is a different matter."

In the past two school years, CMS has seen a drop by 173 students to a recent total of 7,816, according to assistant superintendent of finance Shawna Russell. That figure may continue to decline but "it's difficult to tell what the future holds until we actually get kiddos in the classroom," she added.

Recent years have seen a turnover rate of 20-25% among CMS personnel, which Russell told The News was attributable to a number of factors including retirement and military reassignment. CMS has hired two social workers in the past year and is in the process of hiring four more, while a little over $1 million has been dedicated toward staff at the iAcademy opening next year for students in need of alternative off-site education.

Bringing other ancillary staff like social workers into schools can go a long way toward easing the challenge for teachers, who already have plenty on their plate. During a discussion on "teacher supply and quality" prior to the superintendents' presentation, a number of LFC members emphasized the importance of attention and early intervention for students with childhood trauma or other challenges at home.

"At the end of the day, if there's no system between child and parent, we're going to be back here year after year," said District 11 Rep. Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque.

District 30 Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, pointed to how an unstable home life can cause young students to come to school with issues better addressed by social workers than teachers.

"Especially in a lot of rural communities where we're at, we have a lot of alcohol and drugs," he said. "I would leave the profession too if I had to deal with that."

Education is socioemotional work, and additional support and intervention can help all involved parties. Mentorship and more robust preparatory programs for new educators can also help to keep them from becoming discouraged or overwhelmed in the first difficult years inside a classroom.

"Raises are nice, but at the end of the day that's not all that matters," Jessica Sanders told the committee during the teacher supply discussion. Sanders, a middle school science teacher in Roswell and 2019 New Mexico Teacher of the Year, spoke to keeping teachers "supported and connected" through relationships with experienced educators.

"We all want students to do well, we all want teachers to do well," said District 42 Rep. Bobby Gonzales, D-Taos. "We all need to play in that human element."