School to raise number of teachers
Federal grant: Money will be used to hire moe minority educators for JTHS
By Ted Slowik
Staff writer
JOLIET - Local educators will use part of a $3.75 million federal grant to increase the number of minority teachers working at Joliet Township High School.
JTHS will partner with the University of St. Francis to administer a portion of the grant, which was announced this week by the U.S. Department of Education as part of Associated Colleges of Illinois' Diversity at the Blackboard initiative.
"We've had a concern for years about our ability to attract good minority teachers," JTHS Superintendent Paul Swanstrom said. "We pride ourselves on the diversity of our student body. It's important for kids to see diversity among the faculty."
Illinois School Report Card data for 2004 shows that of JTHS's 4,993 students, 40.3 percent were white, 30.9 percent were black and 27.4 percent were Hispanic. The same data shows that among JTHS teachers, 86.5 percent were white, 7.2 percent were black and 5.6 percent were Hispanic.
Despite its predominantly minority student population, JTHS is below state averages in terms of teacher diversity. In Illinois last year, 9.8 percent of educators were black and 4 percent were Hispanic.
Swanstrom said JTHS hopes to use the grant to offer local scholarships that will encourage alumni to return to their high school alma mater as educators.
"Good minority teaching candidates are being recruited away by other industries," he said.
The $3.75 million will be shared by public school systems in Chicago, Aurora, Elgin, Joliet and Posen-Robbins.
The University of St. Francis, along with Aurora University, North Central College in Naperville and other institutions in the 19-member Associated Colleges of Illinois organization will use the money to offer scholarships to teaching candidates who are minorities.
"To be one of the lead partners is an honor for us," USF spokesperson Nancy Pohlman said, "especially because of our commitment to diversity."
Associated Colleges of Illinois says the federal government is providing $1.25 million for scholarships and that participating colleges and universities are matching that amount. Additional funds will be used to increase curriculum offerings designed to recruit more minorities and males to the teaching profession and to develop partnerships with community colleges to develop teacher certification programs at the two-year schools.
Statewide, about 40 percent of Illinois elementary and secondary school students are minorities, compared to only 15 percent of teachers.
- Staff writer Ted Slowik may be reached at (815) 729-6053 or at tslowik@scn1.com.
10/17/05
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