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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Northern Virginia school districts are struggling with growth-generated problems including overcrowding and difficulty finding teachers.
At 7 percent, Loudoun County schools continue to experience some of the largest per-capita growth rates in the country, spokesman Wayde Byard said. Some 54,047 children now attend public schools in Loudoun, 651 more than the school system had anticipated. Four new schools opened this fall, and in the coming five years, 19 new schools will open to handle the anticipated growth, Byard said.
The rest of the region’s schools grew at more reasonable rates over last year’s enrollment. Prince William, with a 2.8 percent increase over its 2006 enrollment, was the next largest. It now totals 72,654 students. Alexandria’s enrollment increased 2.2 percent to 10,275 students. Fairfax County schools grew 1.1 percent over last year to 165,434 students. Arlington now has 18,684 students, a 1.3 percent increase.
Though their growth rates are small, both Arlington and Fairfax experienced unexpected population surges at a handful of schools that led to overcrowding and caused the districts to consider boundary changes this year.
Some expanding districts are also having trouble finding enough teachers, said Jane Hannaway, director of the Urban Institute’s Education Policy Center. Upping salaries goes only so far, she said. Teachers at schools with many impoverished students or schools with transient populations are less likely to stay, she said.
Loudoun hired 800 new teachers this year. A national teacher shortage makes it hard to recruit, despite a high retention rate and efforts to keep salaries competitive, Byard said.
Growing school districts also risk losing personal relationships with their students and teachers, said Aleta Margola, executive director of the Center for Inspired Teaching in the District.
“The temptation is to sacrifice effectiveness and personal relationships between teachers, students and parents (for) efficiency,” Margola said. “Students need to know they’re not a number.”
One benefit of increasing enrollment is the likely increase in diversity, said Eileen Kugler, author of “Debunking the Middle-Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools Are Good for All Kids.”
Students at diverse schools learn to work with people of different backgrounds, a skill employers seek, Kugler said.
mhegstad@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:07 PM MST on Fri., Apr. 18, 2008 re: "Va. teacher salaries fall much lower than U.S. average"
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2:19 PM MST on Fri., Dec. 14, 2007
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11:36 AM MST on Fri., Dec. 14, 2007
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Examiner Reader said:
That is a terrible shame teachers work hard and are not compensated for! You are losing teacher because it is a dying profession...........
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A. Young said:
Teachers are making much less than their counterparts with similar education. In SE Virginia we can't even buy a house, let alone survive on a single teacher salary because the cost of living is so high. The state as well others should put their money where their mouth is in educating America's lost youth.
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Examiner Reader said:
What's so bad about a 50K average salary (including benefits)? Two teachers making the average could survive in a middle class lifestyle in Northern VA, even. It wouldn't make for a great one-income household up here but one could still survive, especially if you pick up a summer job too.
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