Local education leaders answer questions at Eggs & Issues event (2024)

Editor’s note: This is the second of a series of articles describing discussions at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce Eggs & Issues breakfast Aug. 20.

MOULTRIE — Recruiting and retaining quality teachers seemed to be a reoccurring theme for the educational panel at the Second Annual Eggs & Issues event, hosted by the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce Aug. 20 at Southern Regional Technical College.

Jennifer Mitchell, EdD, assistant director of diversity and community relations at PCOM, was the moderator for the educational panel, which included Superintendent Dan Chappius of the Colquitt County School System; Dr. Jennifer Shaw, department chair at PCOM South Georgia; President Jim Glass of Southern Regional Technical College; and Nestor Colls-Senaha, head of the Colquitt Christian Academy.

Mitchell started the panel off with the question, “As a leader in your school, what are your main concerns and what reassures you about your employees?”

Shaw was the first to answer and she said a main concern for her was, “That we can recruit and retain the faculty that we bring in, as well as attracting the students to our area.”

She added that another concern was making sure that there was enough space in the PCOM South Georgia facilities and that the college continued to grow.

Shaw said that what reassured her about her faculty was their complete dedication and that they were “hands-down” completely committed to the PCOM students.

Colls-Senaha said his concern was that, since the Colquitt Christian Academy was a non-profit, that 80% of the tuition went toward the teachers’ salaries and the other 20% went to operational costs.

“We’re very fortunate, here in Moultrie and Colquitt County, that we have very generous individuals that contribute to off-set some of the other costs that we incur as a private Christian school,” he added.

He said they have a lot of great teachers, who are passionate about what they do, but salary-wise they were way below the public school system because they were a non-profit.

“So, my goal is to find more contributors, here within the county and elsewhere, to increase their salaries because we are all part of a family,” Colls-Senaha said and added that he wanted to compensate the teachers for what they do and also be able to offer them a benefits package.

Glass said, “We’re about one thing and we don’t apologize for it. It’s workforce development.”

He said that, as far as hiring and retaining a great faculty, their teachers were industry experts and they only brought in people to teach who were experts.

“What it does is it allows us to have a great relationship with our businesses and it’s a huge plus for our students,” Glass said and thanked the government officials in the audience for the state pay-raise that his faculty had received.

He went on to say that SRTC had a fixed retirement, great state health benefits, vacation time and sick leave time.

“I’m recruiting, I guess,” he said which drew laughter. “If you come to work at Southern Regional, you’re going to have a good time and we’re going to take great care of you.”

Chappuis said the Colquitt County School System works off of four pillars that guide their decision making.

“We’re going to be about a safe and positive learning environment. We’re gonna focus on learning, not on teaching. We want to build a collaborative culture and add things like this, today, where we collaborate with our community, our teachers collaborate together, our students, our parents. The old adage is, ‘It takes a village.’ It really does and so we want to build that collaborative culture. and lastly, we’re gonna pay attention to results,” he said.

He said that, as far as his concerns, safety in the school system was always going to be priority because learning wouldn’t take place unless the staff and students felt safe.

“We are dealing with a national teachers shortage and we want to make sure we are recruiting and retaining top quality educators. Our main job is to put the best people in front of our children that we can find and I think our board of education has done a really good job over the past few years,” Chappuis said.

He added that the school system has salaries that are competitive across the region and they’ve put some things in place with tuition reimbursem*nt to develop teachers and get their paraprofessionals certified.

“Our teachers are working very hard and focusing on the right things to make sure we’re producing those quality graduates that will be contributors to our community down the road,” Chappuis said.

The next question that Mitchell asked the educational panel was, “What can the community do to help support you all?”

Shaw said immediately, “Tell people about PCOM South Georgia.”

She said that she was amazed that a lot of people in the South Georgia region didn’t know there was a medical school here.

“So, I think that telling folks is a big part of that and also more places for our students to live is another thing in the community,” she said.

Colls-Senaha spoke about the Golden Dome Scholarship Fund, which individuals can donate to and help off-set tuition. The Georgia Private School Tax Credit law allows private citizens and corporations to receive tax credits for donations to student scholarship organizations for private schools.

“In order to increase salaries, normally you have to increase tuition. I’m trying everything I can do not to increase tuition because I want this to be accessible to any family member and student,” he said.

Glass said that SRTC is becoming more and more of a first choice and people were really respecting what they were able to do and understood the transferability of their courses.

“As far as what you can do for us, continue to help us get the word out that we are a great place to be. We can train you and we can get you out and get you in the workforce quick,” he said. “And that’s what we stand for.”

Chappuis said, “I’ll go ahead and say this. I feel like, in having worked in several other school districts throughout my career, this community supports the work of young people like no other I’ve ever been around.”

He went on to say that the support of the community attracted educators because they wanted to be in a place where they knew the community was going to be behind them.

“The work that you all do to support our young people is outstanding,” he said.

Chappuis also said that the partnerships and community support was something that they used when recruiting teachers and they wanted to continue to do that.

The final question for the panel was if there was one aspect of their school that they were particularly proudest.

Colls-Senaha answered that he was impressed with the Colquitt Christian Academy’s Classical Christian Curriculum.

“We can adapt the curriculum to the student. We don’t have to mold the student to the curriculum,” he said.

He said that he likes that everything that the school does is based off of scripture and that they still teach all of the subjects that a public school teaches but put it in the light of scripture.

Chappuis said, “I’d like to highlight the work of our teachers. I think that’s the biggest thing I can talk about. Our teachers work extremely hard.”

He said that he was a big believer that education was a calling and he’s thankful that every one of his teachers answered the call.

“We’re producing quality graduates that will possibly impact our community down the road and that’s the great work of our teachers, who are ‘boots on the ground’ working with our students every day,” he said.

Shaw was proud of the PCOM South Georgia students because, she said, that they had servant’s hearts.

“They are so busy in a medical school curriculum and, yet, they’re at the Boys & Girls Club, they’re doing culinary medicine and growing gardens with elementary students in the community. They’re all over the place and they somehow manage, with all of their academic demands, to be immersed in the community,” she said.

She said that she was also proud of the character and trust among the students, which was illustrated to her by the fact that they were comfortable leaving their bags, purses and cell phones outside of a classroom when taking an exam.

Glass said, “I want to remind all of you that we are your college. Although, we’re in 11 counties, we have four big campuses, over a million square feet on and on, 600 employees, roughly full-time and part-time — but we are your college.”

He went on to say that SRTC was here for the community and that idea had permeated the entire staff.

“If you need anything from us, reach out to us,” Glass said.

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