Brunswick County Schools push for a more diverse teaching staff

SHALLOTTE, NC (WWAY) — Brunswick County Schools want more diversity on their staff. This comes as a new study says hiring more minority teachers can really benefit minority students.

Quan Stewart, a Shallotte Middle School teacher, says he enjoys his job and that interest was sparked by teachers he had growing up. “I just want to make a difference in the classroom,” said Stewart. “I had some incredible teachers in my own life to really push me into what I wanted to do to make the world better.”

And Stewart says part of his mission as an educator is to be a role model for students. He says it’s important that each student has someone to identify with in the classroom.

“It helps to make that connection that they can have that encouragement in the classroom that they can have a role model,” said Stewart.

A newly-released study showed that students performed better in the classroom with teachers of the same ethnic background.

Mark Pasier, Executive Director of Human Resources for Brunswick County Schools, says there is a benefit to having a diverse teaching staff.

“It’s important because the kids see how they are and who they want to be within the community and we realize as a community we all have varied backgrounds,” said Pasier.

Pasier says out of about 860 teachers in the Brunswick County School system, about 90 are non-white.

He says while the schools are making an effort to recruit more minorities’ teachers, there are challenges.

“The number of underrepresented applicants is rather small,” said Pasier.

Pasier says teacher pay also makes it difficult to attract teachers.

Stewart says the teachers are out there they just have to look.

“The pool is out there but it’s going to take teachers, administrators and the community to bring diversity to the classroom,” said Stewart.