Beach starts today to obtain tomorrow's teachers

VIRGINIA BEACH

Six years from now, 16-year-old Samantha Hardee could be a teacher in Virginia Beach schools.

If she's good enough, she might even land a guaranteed contract before she leaves high school.

Hardee is one of 87 Beach high school students taking the Teachers for Tomorrow course.

The program is being tested in four schools this year but will be offered in all 11 of the city's comprehensive high schools next year.

The guaranteed contracts will be inked with one or two seniors at each school that offered the program this year.

Superintendent Jim Merrill suggested the contracts as a way for the school division to "grow" more of its own teachers.

Education programs in Virginia don't produce enough new teachers, especially in areas such as math, science, foreign languages and special education, said John Mirra, director of human resources for Beach schools.

"We want as many as possible of these shining stars to return to us to serve as great role models and to inspire future generations of students," Mirra said in an e-mail.

In order to take advantage of a job contract, students must graduate from a regionally accredited teacher education program with at least a 3.0 grade point average and pass school system background checks.

As part of the teaching course at Kellam High School, Hardee has gone back to the place where she was a student six years ago. She has been observing her fifth-grade teacher, Mark Bonney, and helping out in his class at Princess Anne Elementary School.

One morning, she quizzed students on the meanings of prefixes and called out words for the spelling game "Sparkle."

"They've fallen in love with her," Bonney whispered.

The course aims to expose students to the idea of teaching as a career before they reach college. Students learn how to write lesson plans, visit schools and complete two-month internships at elementary or middle schools.

"We just want them to experience what it is like in the classroom," said John Merritt, who coordinates Teachers for Tomorrow at Kellam.

The program also can save students and schools time and energy.

"They find out if (teaching) matches their personality," said Linda Spruill, who oversees the program citywide.

Hardee thinks it does.

"I want to go on to be an elementary teacher," she said.

And she would love to sign one of those contracts.

"It's really neat to be guaranteed a job right out of college," Hardee said.

Lauren Roth, (757) 222-5133, lauren.roth@pilotonline.com