teachers

Today's guest says that South Carolina started 2025 with over 1,000 unfilled teaching positions.

Today's guest says that South Carolina started 2025 with over 1,000 unfilled teaching positions.

The National Council on Teacher Quality finds that the workforce does not represent the demographic diversity of students. Data suggests that college-educated people of color are turning away from teaching.

Teachers dedicate countless hours and significant funds to support their students. Recent data indicate that teachers spend about $800 out of their own pockets each year on everything from pens and pencils to cleaning supplies and snacks.

Teachers are getting ready to pack up their classrooms for the summer, but many will not return in the fall.

You may have heard our recent interview with Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association about the current teacher shortage in our state. Today, we will hear from someone affiliated with a teacher recruitment initiative funded by the SC Dept. of Education. Mike Switzer interviews Katie Crews, a senior program manager with TEACH South Carolina in Columbia. TeachSC Community Interest Survey for those interested in becoming teachers, volunteers, and/or substitute teachers.

'The Village' is an ambitious, 22-acre development that looks to solve the problems unstable local housing create for working teachers and the districts that hire them.

The South Carolina House has unanimously approved a bill allowing teachers or other school district staff up to six weeks of paid leave when they give birth or adopt a child. The bill was passed 113-0 Wednesday and faces one more routine approval before being sent to the Senate. It mirrors a law passed last year that allowed parental leave for state employees. But the General Assembly didn't include educators in that proposal and teachers were angry. The House proposal allows teachers who give birth or are the primary caretakers of an adopted child six weeks of paid leave. The other parent can take up to two weeks and parents who foster a child in state custody also are eligible for two weeks of leave.

If the old book is true, if all one really needs to know is learned in kindergarten, then Gloria Gainey celebrated more than a birthday recently. She celebrated generations of Fort Mill children turning adults, who know plenty due to her.Gainey is a kindergarten assistant at Fort Mill Elementary School. She turned 80 on Sept. 8. She started her role as a kindergarten teacher back in 1975."I just love it," she said. "I love 5-year-olds and everything. I enjoy doing the work. It's just a fun job. I've always felt like Fort Mill was my school family."

Teacher advocacy group SC for Ed says it dropped plans for Monday protests in Columbia amid threats of violence.