Monday, February 22, 1999
Retiring black teachers leave void
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A passion for teaching drew Barbara Matthews to Cincinnati Public Schools in the 1960s, when she was one of the few African-American teachers in the district. After 32 years of teaching, Ms. Matthews will retire this year, saying the increasing challenges in an urban district outweigh the job's satisfaction.
Ms. Matthews, of Symmes Township, was part of tide of African-American teachers who entered education in the 1960s when minorities had fewer opportunities in the business world. Today, that group of teachers is about to retire: Nationwide, 35 percent of all black teachers have more than 20 years of teaching experience, compared with 30 percent for whites and 17 percent for Hispanics.
“The stress level has gone up, and you get to a point where it's just not as enjoyable as it used to be,” said Ms. Matthews, who works as a librarian at Hays Elementary in the West End.
Ms. Matthews' husband, Withrow Principal Dennis Matthews, also will retire this year, after 30 years in education.
Like many districts nationwide, Cincinnati Public has stepped up strategies to attract more minority teachers as retirement depletes its ranks.
Role models needed
A Pensacola, Fla., school board member is worried about the impact of having fewer minority teachers in the classroom. Among the 2,812 teachers in Escambia County, 351 are black. Half of those will retire in the next five years.
“We have 35 percent black children in this district,” said Elmer Jenkins. “They need to see role models who look like them in classrooms. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that is important.”
Said parent Henry Donaldson, who has two daughters in the Pensacola district: “I have never felt prejudiced about the whites on the teaching staff, but hiring more blacks will make my daughter have more role models.”
The percentage of black teachers at Cincinnati Public Schools has remained consistent in recent years — 27.2 percent last year, compared with 27.9 percent a decade ago, spokeswoman Janet Walsh said. The district's retirement projections weren't readily available.
Officials credit that stability to programs such as the Cincinnati Initiative for Teacher Education, a partnership with the University of Cincinnati, and the Hughes Center's High School for the Teaching Professions. Both programs have a “grow your own” philosophy, under which educators target minorities locally to train as teachers.
Other Tristate districts say they also aggressively recruit minority teachers. But they acknowledge they're fighting an increasingly difficult battle.
“It's a very competitive situation,” said Gene Hutzelman, assistant superintendent for human resources at Hamilton City Schools. “Everyone is looking for good people, and African- Americans are certainly in high demand.”
About 6 percent to 8 percent of the district's teachers are black, he said. The district sometimes loses black candidates to districts that can pay more, he added.
Such candidates are “in a great situation where they can command excellent school systems paying top dollar,” he said.
Competition fierce
At Forest Hills, officials don't recruit anyone, including minorities, because they get about 15 times as many applications as they have openings, personnel director Paul Hamilton said. Fewer than 1 percent of the district's teachers are minorities.
“We interview minorities when we get applications,” he said. “But there are districts out there with a higher-profile need. The demand for minority teachers is so great and the competition so fierce that they usually don't come here.”
And at Clermont Northeastern, a shortage of math and science applicants has prompted officials to focus more on soliciting candidates in general, regardless of race.
“Our problem is in attracting math or science majors, because often those folks do not go into public education but some other field of employment where the pay is higher,” Superintendent Charles J. Shreve said, adding that the district's starting salary for teachers is $21,368.
“Even if one made the decision to be a teacher, there's intense competition between districts for those teachers,” he added.
And the financial instability many public districts face also may scare off some prospective teachers, said Mr. Matthews, the retiring Withrow principal.
“Why would any teacher, unless they really want to live in Cincinnati, take a job here when they could lose their job if a levy fails?” Mr. Matthews said.
Staff writer Miriam Smith and Gannett News Service contributed.
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