BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — Leaders with Blount County Schools said they are seeing more diverse student populations, so they've created a new task force this year to recruit diverse educators.
"I feel like it's important and needed," said Nichole McCord, Assistant Principal at Rockwood Elementary and head of the BCS Diversity Task Force. "We're very diverse, Blount County, and we have very few teachers of color."
The district says they are recruiting new hires at job fairs and colleges, as well as checking in regularly with new teachers to offer advice and support.
"When we look at diversity, we're not only looking at race — we're looking at job experience," said Dr. Courtney Whitehead, the school district's HR Director. "We have an increase in our teachers that have taken a nontraditional path to becoming a teacher."
So far, BCS has increased its diverse staff from 2.4% to 2.6%. They have about 800 staff members, and 730 of those have teaching licenses. The goal is to raise that percentage to 10% in just two years.
One of their new hires is Tracey Halter, a first-year theater teacher at William Blount High School. She is an NYU grad and has a long resume of acting experience, as well as teaching experience at the University of Tennessee with Clarence Brown Theater.
"The reason for me wanting to teach theater had changed," Halter said. "I no longer honestly was really interested in teaching people who were getting ready to go on a career path of theater."
She says she enjoys watching quiet students and even those uninterested in theater come out of their shells.
"Theater teaches you about empathy, and kindness, and working together," she said. "Respecting someone who is different than who you are. It teaches you that you have to look at each other, which in this day of social media, we don't."