For the past six years, Deborah Dennie has worked as the principal of a middle school in St. Mary’s County, a rural community in southern Maryland.
On any given day, Dennie oversees roughly 1,000 employees inside Leonardtown Middle School.
While a fan of the opportunities a sweeping education reform program, The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, is projected to create for students, she’s concerned about a new requirement.
One of the changes that the Blueprint will introduce, is reimagining the position of school leaders. The Blueprint requires assistant principals to teach in the classroom for at least 20% and suggests that principals teach for 10% of the school day.
“I have 1000 people in this building that I have to be responsible for,” Dennie said. “To think that I am just going to be able to give 10% of my assistant principals’ time. It’s ludicrous.”
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future plans to level the academic playing fields for students across the state. Maryland educators look forward to opportunities for their students, such as the expansion of community schools, access to early childhood education and college and career preparation, but they also have concerns.
The state has committed to investing $3.8 billion in education over the course of 10 years and will focus on five pillars. The second pillar of the Blueprint is High Quality and Diverse Teachers and Leaders. The goal is to reform teaching through professional development opportunities, restructured career ladders, salary bonuses and innovative strategies to recruit and retain educators.
Dennie said this requirement is also challenging because of the statewide and national teacher shortage.
The Blueprint’s goal to retain educators is great but does not get to the root of Maryland’s teacher shortage, said Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association and teacher by trade.
“We can continue to recruit but the facts in Maryland are we are an import state,” Bost said. “We do not put enough people through our education programs. We don’t even have enough education programs to supply the number of teachers that we need here in Maryland.”
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
