DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County has a $3 million plan to attract new teachers to the district and keep the ones they currently have.

However, one board member and some other leaders believe the plan is too expensive and it won’t work.

DeKalb’s new plan is a teacher residency program the superintendent compared to what doctors do in their residency programs.

DeKalb Superintendent Dr. Devon Horton said he knows the plan will work in DeKalb because it has worked for him before in other states.

“For every teacher we’re hiring, we’re losing one for family reasons (from) moving across the state (to) moving to other parts of the country... being promoted,” Horton explained.

DeKalb is nearly three months into the school year and the district is still short, with nearly 200 teachers.

“We pay the highest salary out of all the districts in the metro area but we still have teacher shortages,” Horton said.

Horton said before the board hired him in DeKalb, he created a successful teacher residency program in two other states.

Monday night, he got the board to approve a $3.2 million residency program offering college graduates a free education if they commit to working in DeKalb schools for five years.

Current teachers can get their master’s degrees on the district’s dime and lead teachers will get paid an extra $10,000 to train new teachers.

Dr. Joyce Moreley is the one board member who doesn’t believe the plan will work.

“If we listen to what people are saying in those schools once they get here. The problem isn’t getting them here it’s how do we keep them here?,” Moreley said.

The president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers agrees.

“We’re not respected, we’re not paid enough and this is not a rewarding job for us. They get up and leave, so if you don’t understand the problem, there’s no way in the world you can fix it,” Verdallia Turner said.

The superintendent admitted he realizes some teachers aren’t happy at their schools right now.

His hope is that this new plan will work and teacher morale will start to go up.

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