Story Archives of 'Teachers'

This week, the Nashua Board of Alderman will take a third look at a proposed teacher’s contract.

The union’s stalemate has lasted almost two years.

If approved, the contract would require the city to override its spending cap.

If it fails, Nashua schools may see a higher than usual attrition rate.

NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern reports.

Manchester schools are facing a looming challenge.

Over one hundred and fifteen teachers are expected to retire when school ends in June.

That's more than 2 times the number that typically leave in a given year.

From Manchester, NHPR correspondent Brian Early reports,

Each school year, new teachers enter the classroom with enthusiasm and excitement. Yet statistics show as many as half of those teachers will leave the profession after just a few years. We'll look at what's causing so many educators to go elsewhere, and what's being done to address those issues. Laura's guests are Rob Fried, Executive Director of the Upper Valley Teacher Institute and its "Great Teaching Project" to address teacher retention; and Mark Joyce, Executive Director of the New Hampshire School Administrators Association. We'll also hear from Michael Andrew, Professor of Education at the University of New Hampshire.

Negotiating teachers' contracts is not a process most teachers and school boards look forward to. And in recent years that process has become even more difficult--in some cases adversarial--as school budgets are cut and health care costs rise. We'll look at what happens between teachers and school boards at the negotiating table, why teachers are increasingly unhappy with what they are offered and whether they are asking for too much. Laura is joined by Karen McDonough, President of the New Hampshire Chapter of the National Education Association and Ted Comstock, Executive Director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association.

Randy Wormald has been known to dress up as Mathman, do the Pythagorean Rap and the Graphmaster Boogie, all in the interest of getting high school students interested in learning about math and science. Randy, or Mr. Worm as he's known, recently won the Disney Outstanding High School Teacher Award and is New Hampshire's most recent Teacher of the Year recipient. We'll talk with him about what it's like being a teacher these days and what it takes to get students interested in learning. Laura's guest is Randy Wormald, Math and Science Teacher for Belmont High School.