MikeLigalig.com

By David Harrison
www.roanoke.com

Back in January, the Roanoke school system's human resources director traveled to the Philippines to recruit teachers.

When she came back, she said she had hired six qualified teachers, all of whom were to teach special education, a notoriously hard-to-fill position for schools across the country.

Fast forward about eight months. There's a new administration in the school system. The former human resources director, Gloria Simon, left over the summer.

Now, a day before the start of school, new administrators are left with a pressing question: Where are the six Filipino teachers?

"I am just dumbfounded by this," said Rita Bishop, who took over as superintendent a month ago.

The school system had prepared orientation packets for the Filipino hires and expected them on the first day of new teacher orientation Aug. 23.

They did not show up.

School administrators then tried unsuccessfully to contact Green Life Care International, the recruiting company that was supposed to arrange for the teachers to come to Roanoke. The company also arranged and paid for Simon's January trip to Manila and Cebu in the Philippines.

Last week, the school system finally got through to the company and cut ties with its missing teachers, canceling their contracts by mutual agreement, according to Bishop.

The teachers have not received any money from the school system, she said.

Loss of the six teachers comes at an inopportune time. As of the end of last week, school officials were still in need of eight teachers.

Isidro Rodriguez, who runs Green Life Care International, did not return several calls for comment last week. The company's Web site, greenlifecareinternational.com, appears to have been taken down.

"The best word I have is that one [teacher] is in the country," said Bishop.

Over the past few years, a shortage of teachers in such hard-to-fill areas as math, science and special education has forced school districts around the country to resort to hiring teachers from outside the United States. Virginia Beach and Spotsylvania, Bedford and Henry counties have all hired foreign teachers.

With the proper degrees, Filipino teachers can count as "highly qualified teachers" under the definitions set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In a February interview, Rodriguez said he has placed 300 or 400 Filipino teachers in North Carolina and Virginia. The teachers work on H-1B visas, which allow them to work temporarily in the country.

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