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D. Scott Hughes, Executive Director Alliance For Education

The recent flack in Caddo Parish and throughout Louisiana over the treatment of foreign teachers and their families by recruiters in their home country has caused quite a stir in Louisiana education circles.  For those not familiar with the issue, Caddo Parish and many other school systems throughout Louisiana went to the Philippines to recruit foreign teachers to come to Louisiana to help fill vital needs including Math, Science and Special Education teaching slots.  This was done under a larger umbrella contract with a company that had been selected by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) to work with the Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans and in other RSD schools across the State.  Local school districts were offered the opportunity to piggyback along on this State contract and many did in search of new teaching talent.

The districts traveled to the Philippines to met and recruit hundreds of teachers who then relocated to Louisiana and began teaching.  It is worth noting that by all accounts these teachers have performed well in the classroom, and many are still in place today throughout the districts.  This issue is not about their competency, but rather about the conditions many endured to get to the United States.  As the facts are now coming to light, many of the recruited teachers were taken advantage of by the local Philippine contractor who apparently demanded high portions of the recruits salary and even threatened harm to the families if the monies were not paid in return for helping provide access to the American recruiters.  This was all done without the knowledge of the American recruiters. 

What is clear is that no one in the process believes what took place is acceptable on any level.  The Philippine teachers received abused from their fellow countrymen akin to indentured servitude, and as the details have come forth both the State and local districts have reacted swiftly to help insure the safety and wellbeing of the teachers.  Investigations have been started and the Philippine contractor in question has been fired.  These teachers were wronged on a scale that is hard to imagine in today’s modern world. 

What is less clear is how local districts and school boards will react to the situation.  Many boards have immediately reacted by talking about rules that would prohibit any future hiring of foreign teachers.  Some have talked about putting into place rules and policies that limit travel of recruiters.  Sadly, in typical reactionary mode many boards may miss the larger issue. 

At the core of this issue is the principle of seeking the best and brightest teachers available to educate our children.  This process sadly had a bad vendor in the mix, but a fraudulent vendor relationship can exist in textbook purchasing, construction or human resources recruiting.  In the end we should be very careful not to overreact to a tragic situation by putting rules in place to make us feel good, but that might ultimately limit a districts ability to seek and attract good talent.  And while prudent financial and contractual checks and balances should always be in place, putting the “where” and “when” and “who” gets recruited or hired decisions to a board vote is a dangerous slippery slope.  We have a much more diverse work force today in our local school systems because recruiters are allowed to travel and search for qualified applicants.  This same type of recruitment process first opened the doors to recruitment of African American applicants on Historically Black Colleges and is now being used to attract highly qualified teachers in specialty areas from around the country.  Diverse talents and people have been good for expanding the teaching pool and that means going where the talent is to get it to come here.

No one has questioned the work ethic or teaching ability of the foreign teachers.  Their very presence has enriched our community and they are making a difference in the classroom.  Let’s hope we continue to seek bright minds from within and from without our community to educate our children.  Let’s not put in place rules that keep much needed human capital out of our communities.