SAN ANTONIO — Across San Antonio classrooms, there has always been a need for bilingual teachers.
San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) expects to have 70 vacant dual language teacher positions for the next school year.
The school board recently approved the use of federal elementary and secondary school emergency relief (ESSER) funds to bring teachers from Latin America to fill 30 spots in dual language classrooms. The district is partnering with International Alliance Group (IAG) for this cultural exchange program.
"Not only are the positions tough to fill, within the city, state, the nation, but we also want to ensure our students are able to see themselves represented in the classrooms by their teachers," said Dr. Monica Medina, K-8 Dual Language Coordinator for SAISD.
Dr. Medina said the teachers will receive the same training other dual language teachers receive in the district. They plan to spread out the 30 teachers across K-12 classrooms in 62 different schools.
The district has already started conducting interviews with qualified candidates, said Dr. Medina. They hope to have them on board in time for the 2022-2023 school year.
The program will assist hires with housing and relocation needs.
"They come with diverse backgrounds and all of these teachers have experience in teaching and have taught various subjects from English, Math, Science, to Spanish literacy as well," Dr. Medina said.
In addition to being able to teach in both English and Spanish, Dr. Medina is hopeful about the increased cultural representation coming to SAISD.
"So that when they're looking at and seeing their teacher , they're hearing the dialects that they see at home, that they see their families and their own experiences represented by the teacher that's in the classroom with them," said Dr. Medina.