Two local teachers have been offered a chance to work in the highly-rated Fairfax County Public School system in the United States (US).
President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell made this disclosure on Wednesday while giving an update on the efforts by the public school district in Virginia to recruit local teachers to deal with staff shortages there.
Although he told Barbados TODAY there was not much information he could give at this time, Lovell disclosed: “The representatives from Fairfax were trying to put together some benefits for teachers so they would not have to pay certain costs, but I have not heard anything since. They were in Barbados earlier this year and we would have met with them. I don’t have much to say on the development at this time, but it is not off the table. What I can say, however, is that at least two teachers have been given the green light in terms of recruitment and it is up to those teachers to accept the offer.”
Last October, Lovell disclosed that Fairfax County was interested in recruiting teachers from Barbados to help with a shortage of educators in the southeastern US state, which is the third-highest paying district in America.
Back then, he said only 20 teachers had expressed an interest in working in the Fairfax public school system which had advertised teaching positions for Biology, English, History and Social Studies, Spanish, Mathematics, and Business and Information Technology, among other disciplines.
Lovell said teachers were initially concerned about the mass shootings at schools across the US.
“This was one of the main concerns raised and the district would have done their best to ensure the safety of all persons, both teachers and students within the area,” he said.
Some of the other concerns teachers had, he said, were living conditions, whether their spouses and children could move to the US with them, equal pay, transportation expenses, and taxes on salaries.
(SZB)
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