Filipinos fill teaching void

• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Nov 3, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:00 a.m.

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MORGANZA — For the sake of landing a good teaching job in the United States, Marilou Garin made the difficult decision of leaving her husband and four young children behind in the Philippines.

Nearly three weeks ago, Garin and three other Filipino teachers began their first day of work, teaching middle school and high school students at Pointe Coupee Central High School.

After two years of poor academic performance in the state’s accountability program and after being taken over by the Louisiana Department of Education, the school opened this fall as a charter school run by the nonprofit group, Advance Baton Rouge.

The parish school system has struggled at times to find certified teachers to fill vacancies and the school began the academic year hiring teachers right up until a week before classes started.

Since that time, school administrators said several teachers have left to pursue other opportunities. The school was shorthanded until the most recent hires were found with the help of the placement agency, Universal Placement International.

“We reached out (to the placement agency) because it can be difficult to find certified teachers in this area,” Terri Smith, Advance Baton Rouge’s achievement director said. “We are committed to finding the most effective and highly qualified teachers.”

The four new teachers speak English as their first language and have already undergone a rigorous certification process before arriving in the United States, making them a good fit for Pointe Coupee Central, said Annie Morrison, media relations director with Advance Baton Rouge.

 “They have exceeded our expectations,” she said.

A starting teacher with a bachelor’s degree in Pointe Coupee Parish can earn an annual salary of $38,392, according to the state Department of Education. Philippine Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said in a Sept. 13 interview with The Associated Press that the starting salary for a public-school teacher there is about $300 a month.

For Garin, who teaches ninth-grade civics, the transition has been smooth. She and her three Filipino colleagues share an apartment close to the school, divide the household chores and spend their evenings grading papers and using the Internet to talk to their families back home.

However, the four teachers have noticed several differences between teaching in America versus teaching in the Philippines.

Claire Tapales, who teaches eight-grade history and social studies, said a stern look from a teacher in the Philippines is usually enough to quiet a rowdy classroom, while here in the United States, she has to practice patience in dealing with some of her more outspoken students.

Daisy Martinez, who teaches sixth-grade and seventh-grade English, said she has to work harder to keep students’ attention here in the United States and that “you need to be firm because they’ll try your patience.”