Thursday marked the first day of school today for students in Gary, Indiana, but not every teacher was physically in the classroom.
A shortage of licensed educators has led the Gary Community School District to temporarily bring in virtual teachers — a move that’s drawing both praise and criticism. Teachers from the company Proximity are helping with the shortage experienced by the district and others across the country.
More than 4,000 students are in the district, but only a small percentage will be instructed by a virtual teacher.
As of Thursday, a little less than 13 virtual teachers were teaching subjects throughout the district, because school officials said about one-third of their teachers were not properly licensed.
One parent told NBC Chicago she was aware her children might have virtual teachers on the first day of school.
“The only thing they expressed was the uncertainty of what’s actually going to happen,” parent Nina Burton said. “That was their concern. My kids are pretty resilient. They have a lot of support. They have a whole village. So we knew that if it came down to them having some virtual classes, we were we were going to be ready to help them through it. But thus far, they have not had it.”
District officials said as more and more teachers get their teaching credentials and licenses in order, they will replace those virtual instructors – who are aided by a teaching assistant – in the classroom.
“Each classroom where there’s a virtual teacher has a facilitator,” said Cynthia Treadwell, chief academic officer for the Gary Community School Corporation. “That facilitator has gone through a day’s worth of training with Proximity, and in that training, they learned very specifically what their role would be and supporting the virtual teacher while she is online.”
Dr. Yvonne Stokes, the school district’s superintendent, emphasized that Gary schools are still hiring.
“We have people in the hopper right now, but you know, we have to do background checks,” she stated. “We have to make sure that they pass drug tests. We’re not just going to put anybody off the street in front of our children and expect things to go well.”
Recently, the union that represents Gary teachers told a public forum that this move by the district and the school board was union-busting. Both the district and the union said that is better to have physical teachers in the classroom.
“We want what’s best for the kids, and we know that in-person instruction is what’s best,” Burton said. “But at the same token, what I do not want is our kids to miss out on classes and opportunities.”
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