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Teacher recruitment fair attracts wide interest
Special to the News & Record
The Great Southern Virginia Teacher Recruitment Fair held at Halifax
County High School on Saturday, March 8 attracted approximately 200
educators. Hosted by The Center for Rural Education and Economic
Development, an initiative of the Southern Virginia Higher Education
Center (SVHEC), seventeen districts participated, hoping to hire
teachers in all disciplines Kindergarten through high school.
Dorothea Shannon, Barbara Speece, Nettie Simon-Owens, and Talithia
Bouldin led the effort for the consortium of school divisions starting
the initial planning in November. Lasco, Presto Products, Halifax
Regional Hospital, Mecklenburg County Business Education Partnership,
Amelia County Public Schools, Halifax County High School, SVHEC, and
Educational Testing Services (ETS) contributed money or products to
make this endeavor a success.
An ETS spokesman said his company was pleased be one of the sponsors of
the event. "It gives us the opportunity to meet current and prospective
teachers and to answer their questions on our Praxis Series Teacher
Licensing Exam. We'll have information on how the tests can help with
their careers, which tests they may need to take, study materials to
help them prepare, suggestions for reducing test anxiety and much
more."
Participants came from Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Texas, and Missouri. Some were college students searching
for that first job while others were veteran teachers seeking to
relocate. Career switchers were among the group of attendees hoping to
join the teaching profession.
Sussex County Assistant Superintendent Dr. Nancy Lightner commented,
"This was an excellent fair. We loved having space in the cafeteria to
move around and met a number of good candidates. Fifty one candidates
visited our area, and we interviewed six candidates during the fair."
A Charlotte County Public Schools spokesman added, "This was wonderful.
Everything seemed to flow well. We saw many great candidates-48
prospective educators visited our area, and we scheduled an additional
ten interviews for a later date."
Representatives from local school divisions agreed that, for the first
attempt at such a large recruitment fair, they were pleased with the
turn out and quality of applicants. As the fair is evaluated, plans are
already underway to make this an annual affair.