The Fort Zumwalt School District is about to harvest its first crop of home-grown teachers.
Robin Aston, 22, is weeks away from receiving her bachelor's degree in special education from Southeast Missouri State University. Unlike most fledgling educators, Aston lined up her first full-time teaching job before she entered college.
Fort Zumwalt will hire her to teach special education, a specialized subject that does not attract enough new teachers to meet a growing demand. Aston's job is guaranteed because the district has invested $24,000 and many hours of mentoring to cultivate her — "growing" the teacher it wants, made-to-order.
"Without this program, I would have trouble seeking a job," Aston said. "I would be confused about how to get to this point. I would not know what a school district was looking for."
Aston will be one of the first graduates of the district's Grow Your Own Teacher program, along with fellow Southeast senior Kelsie Kestler, another special education major.
The district launched the program in 2005, responding to the increasing difficulty in recruiting new teachers for certain high-demand subjects. High school seniors apply to enter the program in September. They go through a screening process similar to what an adult teacher would encounter applying for a regular position.
The students selected receive $3,000 per semester for four years, $24,000 total. In return, they must spend their first four years after college teaching in the Fort Zumwalt district. If they fail to complete the program and teach at least four years, they must pay back the $24,000. The district describes it as a forgivable loan program, not a scholarship.
Deputy Superintendent Patty Corum runs the program. In 2004, she formed a committee to study how the district could respond to the growing need for teachers certified in special education, foreign language, industrial technology and high school math and science.
Across the nation, school districts have reported difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers in those five areas, identified by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as especially problematic in this state.
Corum said her committee based the Grow Your Own Teacher program on a similar system in Wichita, Kan. To finance the program, the committee established a nonprofit education foundation that raises money through employee payroll deductions, private donations and fundraising events.
Corum said the foundation has $150,000 in its coffers, collecting about $55,000 annually. Grow Your Own Teacher has seven students enrolled in college this year, so the foundation must pay $42,000 in loans. Aston and Kestler, the program's oldest students, will be its first graduates.
"Some of the kids have been with us since kindergarten, so I guess you could say it takes 16 years to grow a teacher," Corum said.
Aston, a graduate of Fort Zumwalt South High School, said the district was very supportive throughout her four years at Southeast. She kept in touch with a Fort Zumwalt teacher mentor and attended two teacher leadership training meetings each year. She said Corum and Superintendent Bernard DuBray often called her and met her for dinner or lunch.
"They would check on us like parents, almost like your mom and dad calling you to ask how it's going," Aston said.
On Jan. 18, Aston began student teaching full time at Fort Zumwalt North High School. Her entire semester's grade will be based on her performance, instructing students in English and algebra and working one-on-one with students who need extra instruction.
"I struggled in high school sometimes," Aston said. "Since I had difficulties, I wanted to help other students who struggled. I could relate to them."
As Aston prepares to graduate from Grow Your Own Teacher, another student has just entered the program.
Emily Byers, an 18-year-old senior at Fort Zumwalt North, plans to begin classes this fall at Truman State, one of seven universities participating in the Grow Your Own Teacher program. Byers plans to major in biology and chemistry so she can become a high school science teacher in the Fort Zumwalt district.
Byers said a high school counselor recommended she sign up for Grow Your Own Teacher. Byers said the $24,000 loan should pay her entire tuition. Scholarships from the university would pay for housing and books. So she would have a free ride, plus a job waiting for her when she graduated.
"It's a dream come true for me," Byers said. "When they came to my class to tell me I was accepted, I was so excited, I started crying. I didn't know if I should walk or sit down. My friend held me up so I wouldn't fall. I was shaking so bad."
Byers called her mother to tell her the good news. "She started screaming," she said. "My dad found out later. He jumped up and down so much, he blew out a kitchen light bulb."
Byers said she has wanted to become a teacher since childhood, following in the footsteps of her mother, a second-grade teacher at Westhoff Elementary School in the Fort Zumwalt district.
Byers said she used to stand in front of her mother's chalkboard after school and pretend she was a teacher. Holding an open text book, she would write things on the board while a classroom of imaginary students watched. She would point to the invisible kids and ask them questions.
In the real world, there were two middle school science teachers who inspired her to make her dream reality, Byers said. "They were very enthusiastic about their careers. In order to make students interested, you need to be able to get them involved and have a good relationship with them."
