St. Paul School District Looking to Groom 150 to 250 New Teachers: Science, Math Professionals Especially Needed

By Doug Belden, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Nov. 23–Are you working in a lab but secretly wishing to be in front of students?

St. Paul Public Schools could be looking for you.

Next month, the district will start recruiting 150 to 250 people — many of whom will be mid-career professionals with expertise in hard-to-fill content areas like science and math — to become new teachers.

The school board voted unanimously Tuesday to accept a $2.6 million federal grant to fund the district’s partnership with the New Teacher Project, a New York City-based nonprofit organization focused on finding good teachers for high-need districts.

The district will kick in $375,000 over five years to establish a Saint Paul Teaching Fellows program.

The intent is not to bump existing teachers, said Superintendent Meria Carstarphen, but to bring new professionals into the field in science and math as well as areas such as special education, bilingual education and English Language Learners.

“These are jobs that we simply cannot fill,” Carstarphen said.

The New Teacher Project has worked with districts nationwide, including public school systems in Chicago and Milwaukee. About a third of its teaching fellows in 2007 were people of color, according to the project.

All receive training and assistance to become fully certified as teachers through collaboration with a local university.

Anyone interested in applying is asked to call St. Paul Public Schools’ Human Resources Department at 651-767-8200. A link to the application

form should be available from the district’s Web site, www.spps.org, starting Dec. 3.

Doug Belden can be reached at dbelden@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5136.

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