By Holly Becka
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — In most classrooms, students use pencils to take notes.
At the Texas Youth Commission, they’re potential weapons, so teachers must parcel them out and collect them after class.
And unlike most teachers across the Lone Star State, educators at TYC earn hazard pay and receive training in how to physically restrain students.
It’s one of the toughest jobs in education, and it shows. TYC’s annual turnover rate of teachers, principals and diagnosticians in fiscal 2007 was more than double that of the Dallas school district.
Former TYC teachers interviewed by The Dallas Morning News believe that the agency has a difficult time attracting educators because people are scared off by the idea of teaching inmates.
The lack of certified teachers contributes to a variety of problems, including larger classes, educator burnout and turnover.
Internal audits have sounded the alarm about TYC’s teacher shortage. But legislative reforms of TYC earlier this year overlooked the agency’s overwhelming need for teachers.
Legislators did address teachers’ long-standing security concerns by requiring TYC to post a guard “in or near” every classroom.
Max Raymond has firsthand experience that demonstrates the need.
The former TYC math and science teacher said no guard was posted in his room when an inmate from another class started attacking one of his students. Mr. Raymond injured his back while trying to restrain the assailant during the 2005 incident at a McLennan County unit.
“I tried to restrain him the way we’d be taught, but he was flailing around so much that I was just doing everything I could to hang on for dear life,” said Mr. Raymond, who retired from TYC in May and now teaches with his wife at a Methodist boys ranch near Waco.
He said he missed 10 days of work and filed for worker’s compensation. He has since recovered.
If prospective hires can get past TYC’s rough reputation, the agency’s pay scale and year-round calendar might give them pause.
Educators doing similar jobs are paid differently, depending on the prison unit where they’re assigned. According to state mandate, teacher pay at a TYC facility must match the pay scale of the local school district. Some districts pay adequately and have bonuses for teachers with advanced degrees, but others pay poorly.
Forrest Novy, a senior education official at TYC, said the biggest problem in filling vacancies is that local school districts put teachers on contracts and won’t release them to take another job after the school year’s begun. Remote TYC facilities face particularly fierce competition for teachers.
Still, the agency does find teachers who are willing to put up with the hardships.
Amy Feller, a former TYC math teacher and now principal in the Bynum school district, said most of her fellow TYC educators were the best in the business.
“What I saw over and over again was people going the extra mile to work with the most difficult of kids who hate themselves, hate their lives, hate where they are,” she said.
TYC EDUCATOR TURNOVER
-Current teaching staff: 280 teaching positions; 23 vacancies
-Turnover rate for TYC educators in fiscal year 2007: 25.8 percent
-Turnover rate for TYC educators in fiscal year 2006: 17.9 percent
-Statewide turnover rate for teachers* for the 2005-06 school year: 14.6 percent
*The statewide turnover rate applies only to teachers. TYC’s turnover rates for educators include other job categories, such as principals and teacher’s assistants.
Copyright 2007 The Dallas Morning News