CORDOVA, Tenn. — Hundreds of new Shelby County Schools teachers gathered at Bellevue Baptist Church to begin orientation Thursday, where they learned about some of the challenges they would face.
One of the main challenges discussed was literacy.
Sherrita Grayson told our reporter she was going to be teaching second or third graders this school year.
She shared some of her strategies for improving reading skills, like reading in small groups.
“There’s sending reading material home. They need to be able to read at home and read to someone, have someone read to them,” Grayson said.
She said third grade is a key age group for students.
“They have to start taking state tests, so it is a lot more pressure,” Grayson said.
“The data is crystal clear. When kids aren’t reading on grade level, they’re much less likely to graduate, much less likely to find meaningful employment,” said SCS Superintendent Dorsey Hopson.
SCS is preparing to release last school year’s TCAP results, and when we talked to him, Hopson expected there would be gains across the board except when it comes to reading.
While it was a happy day for the hundreds of new teachers, many in the community had not forgotten that just last month, the district announced that it cut 520 teaching and administrative positions.
The district eliminated specific positions mainly due to declining enrollment and other reasons like Achievement School District takeovers and school closures.
Hopson estimated the district must fill more than a hundred vacancies and said SCS has been doing what it can to find a place for those it cut.
“Every single year we say, ‘If you’re an effective teacher, we’re going to have a position for you,'” Hopson said.
WREG requested the current number of teacher vacancies and the number of displaced teachers who been assigned new roles.
SCS said it was working on getting us those numbers.
