To better serve students during a nationwide teacher shortage, Benton Harbor Area Schools is hiring a firm to provide it with certified teachers using long-distance learning technology.
At a meeting this week, Dr. Michael Robinson of Proximity Learning told school trustees his company uses technology and in-person facilitators to deliver to students a real-life teacher, certified in the needed subject, so they can approximate a traditional classroom experience. Robinson said using remote teachers is admittedly not the best solution, but it’s still a solution that Benton Harbor Area Schools can use as it seeks in-person teachers.
“You’re competing with, let’s just say, Chicago up the street for the same folks,” Robinson said. “This one district can offer a few more dollars than this one. Say, ‘I’m going to give you a $10,000 bonus.’ You may not be able to do that in order to get a get a teacher within your class and within your district. So you’ve got to think outside of the box.”
Robinson said there’s a nationwide shortage of about 500,000 teachers right now, and his firm has been working with districts throughout the country to help them cope.
Benton Harbor Superintendent Simone Griffin said she’s been working to find certified teachers to get into classrooms and in front of students, but there’s still a serious need. She said Proximity Learning can help.
“He’ll find us those certified teachers that have the pedagogy that we’re looking for and can give that feedback, grades, all of that,” Griffin said. “Talking to parents, they’ll do all of that.”
Griffin said this is better than using paraprofessionals and teachers-in training to lead classes.
Robinson said recognizing that having an actual, in-person teacher in front of students is the best option, Benton Harbor will not be locked into its contract with Proximity Learning and can get out of it when it finds what it’s looking for. Still, the $1.1 million contract is for ten months.
The in-person facilitators could be anyone deemed qualified by the district, even parents, while the certified teacher instructs the class from the monitor.
Trustees voted to approve the contact unanimously.
