Lee County tackles teacher shortage with homegrown talent program

Author: Cristina Pop
Published: Updated:

Lee County is facing a teacher shortage, with 161 open teaching positions in the district. In response, the district is turning to its own classrooms to find future educators.

The “Building on our Legacy” program targets high school juniors and seniors, aiming to encourage them to become teachers in Lee County.

“This day is a day all about them. We want to get them pumped up for teaching. We want to feed into them. We want to answer questions that they may have, and ultimately, we want to encourage them to come back home to Lee County to find a position in one of our schools,” said Amanda Wilson.

Students in the program had the opportunity to ask a panel of teachers for advice on their future teaching careers.

Jarrod Christmas, a senior, shared his aspirations.

“I want to be a special education teacher,” said Christmas. “Mainly like behavioral skills, ESC, you know, wheelchair-bound kids as it’s what I have most experience with currently, right now, and I feel like it’d be a good fit for it.”

He expressed excitement about his future in teaching.

“Makes me feel like I’m ready to be a teacher,” said Christmas.

Following the panel, students were surprised by video messages from teachers who had influenced them, bringing some tears to their hearts.

“It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I’m ready to go out there and make a difference,” said Christmas.

The Lee County School district offers incentives like the Golden Futures Scholarship, which awards students who graduate from Florida SouthWestern State College and Florida Gulf Coast University and take a job with the district. This scholarship covers all four years of a bachelor’s degree in education.

This is the program’s seventh year, with over 800 students participating, all in an effort to recruit more teachers to Lee County.

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