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Estabrook said the county “is not planning any expansion now.”
But the Rappahannock superintendent of schools would like to change what he called a “frightening” difficulty in filling teaching vacancies in county Softools. To date, Rappahannock needs a high school special education teacher. And two teaching vacancies were filled only last week.
“I was trying to fill them since April,” he said.
Estabrook added that the past few months have been his most difficult for attracting new teachers in his four years as county superintendent of schools.
“Why? I’m not sure,” he said. “Certainly something is going on.” He said “qualified persons” rejected teaching positions in the county, either because of its rural character or because of the salaries they would have received.
‘We simply are not competing with private industry,” he added. “We aren’t able to offer the range of benefits and services that would enable us to compete.
“We need to work as well on our image,” he said. Referring to the 1983 Carnegie Foundation Report on public education in the U.S.—which blamed public schools for what it called “a rising tide of mediocrity which threatens our existence as a nation”—Estabrook said “some national studies gave us a bum rap.”
How does Estabrook view the new school year?
“I don’t believe a superintendent can afford to have feeling of trepidation—that isn’t good for my mental health,” he replied.
“There are always challenges,” he added, “but I think when you see so many people in the county supporting the schools, there’s no reason for trepidation at all. ”
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