Overton County Schools need teachers to help with the after-school programs at several different schools throughout the county.
Overton County Director of Schools Kim Dillon said the school system has dealt with the issue for the last few years. Dillon said with the state raising teacher salaries, the financial incentive to teach after school has diminished.
“Teachers aren’t having to compensate as much as they used to, so maybe they are not wanting to work as much as they used to,” Dillon said. “So there’s a lot of things that could, I mean, I’m just guessing. There’s a lot of things that could go into the reason why.”
Dillon also said the pay compensation for teaching after-school programs has not increased in several years. Dillon said the after-school programs are not in jeopardy, as the school system has filled the positions with other staff.
“In the beginning, especially when you have a waiting list, you want to make sure that all the kids get in, but you have to have enough staff to be able to ensure that all the students get in,” Dillon said. “So then you start to reach out to other schools to see if they have anyone extra that maybe wants to work, but they didn’t have a spot or wanted an extra day, so we did that first. There are some aids that are stepping in to work. So right now, all positions are filled. It just was a struggle in the beginning to fulfill those waiting lists, because we didn’t have the staff who signed up initially.”
Dillon said the programs are ideal for teachers to staff the after-school program to earn extra money. However, Dillon said she would not make teachers staff the programs.
“I don’t want to put more on a teacher than what they feel they can handle,” Dillon said. “If they need the extra money, I am all for them getting it, but I’m not gonna push anyone to doing something if they need that extra time for their family or their mental health. I completely get it.”
Dillon said after-school programs are very beneficial and provide more opportunities for teachers to work with students in a smaller setting. Dillon also said the programs are good to help students who may be struggling in certain subjects.
