School system receives grant to encourage students to teach locally

     The Stephens County school system recently received an $8,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Education to cultivate new homegrown teachers.
     “Funds will support ‘Grow Your Own’ teacher recruitment pathways in school districts,” DOE spokeswoman Meghan Frick reported on June 26.
   Stephens County assistant school superintendent John Stith said the school system’s new Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) center director Rod Pipkin applied for the grant.
    “The grant will help fund professional learning for the teacher and incentives to recruit students to the program,” Stith said.
     The aim, Stith said, is to ultimately have local students become teachers in the Stephens County school system.
    “This (program) will help us to expose our students to teaching as a profession and build connections where they can return to Stephens County schools to teach,” Stith said.
     Frick said the state slated $350,000 in support to 38 school systems with Teaching as a Pathway courses.
    Frick said that school systems across the state have been negatively affected in their efforts to find and recruit teachers due to a decline in student enrollments in education preparation programs.
    “Teaching as a profession is one of more than 100 career pathways to Georgia students through the (CTAE) program,” Frick said.
    State school superintendent Richard Woods said the DOE is committed to provide programs to prepare for new Georgia educators.
     “Teaching is the only profession that impacts all other professions, and we want to ensure we provide the best educational opportunities for students who wish to become teachers,” Woods said.