Home of Today's Common Sense

I would like to take issue with a statement made by Dr. Enrique Escobedo in his ad for BISD Trustee Place 1. He said, “There is no justification to hire uncertified foreign teachers when we have UTB/TSC Pan-American-University and Texas A&M in Kingsville to recruit teachers with proper qualifications.”
This statement creates the impression that there were adequate numbers of teachers waiting to be hired by BISD and that the foreign teachers hired were less qualified than those recent graduates who he says were available.
I would like to submit that there was not a flood of recent graduates; there is indeed a shortage nation wide. More attractive occupations with better salaries beckon harder. Customs and Border Patrol that recruit from the same pool, pay higher and treat their employees much better than teachers are treated in Brownsville. In fact, I am told on a regular basis of more and more teachers leaving to go with these agencies.

The second assertion is that foreigners are not as qualified as the others described. I would never expect such a statement from an educated person especially not from someone aspiring to public service.
I have had the privilege to personally meet many of the “foreigners” hired in the last year. The Filipino educators I met were all professional educators with long relevant experience and advanced degrees. Some were college professors, professional scientists, and one biology teacher was a physician. All of them were trained and educated in a truly bi-lingual educational setting and are fluent in multiple languages as well as English.
I am given to understand that there may be others from Germany and Mexico; possibly others as well.
I personally believe that new thinking in the Brownsville educational system is necessary some “foreigners” might enhance the educational experience.
In order to be able to recruit locally and keep the experienced educators we have, better salaries, a stable leadership and better working conditions, however novel an idea are needed.