School Board mulls decision to start new contract with EPI to hire foreign educators

WADESBORO — Flush from the success of Anson County School District’s newly hired educators from the Philippines, Dr. Josh McLarin and Dr. David Long from EPI came before school board members to expound on the merits of hiring educators from outside of the country.

EPI or Educational Partners International, is one of the largest recruitment firms in North Carolina.

“Last summer we came to you with a contract that was recruiting teachers off of H1B visas, which are work visas, and as you recruit teachers off of work visas they are assigned to Anson County Schools and they cannot go to other districts and they cannot go back without approval. Within the allotment, the way it is converted, this is a really good financial opportunity for us to be able to go out and recruit teachers from over fifty different countries across the entire world and be able to go out and recruit the best teachers from everywhere,” boasted Dr. McLarin.

Dr. McLarin listed the crisis caused by a lack of teachers, as another reason hiring from outside the nation is beneficial, stating, “We have established partnerships with every HBCU in North Carolina, South Carolina, and even getting into Virginia with Virginia State. We recruited teachers we knew were going through programs within the state of North Carolina and they were student teaching in this current semester. We actually hired them in Anson County ahead of the curve so that we could get them under contract, especially in subjects like Math and Science.”

Working with the criteria set forth by Superintendent Howard McLean, Dr. McLarin has persevered in recruiting educators that, “are certified, competent, and well trained. [McLean] felt that every child deserves that.”

“At EPI we recruit, vet, place, and support K12 classroom teachers and place them here in North Carolina, though we work with a total of five different states. This [contract] is cost neutral and the reason for that is that an international teacher on a J1 Visa is not eligible to participate in state retirement because they are here on a temporary visa,” introduced Dr. Long.

Foreign teachers are not able to participate in the North Carolina provided state insurance program because the insurance package currently offered through the state does not meet the criteria as stipulated by the US State department for J1 Visa participants.

Starting in the 1950’s, J1 Visas recruited young professionals into the American workforce, not to replace local talent, but to employ unfulfilled positions for a temporary period. From its inception, the program was seen as a public relations move by the state department, now modernized into a popular avenue for bringing in internationally trained teachers.

“We can do all subject areas with the exception of speech and language because an international teacher is not able to meet those licensing requirements,” Long said. “We are only allowed to place teachers who meet that licensing requirement in the area (s) under which they are being employed. When a teacher comes in you (School District) are the employer and EPI is then the Visa Sponsor. We are responsible from that point for the teacher being here and we really do try to make it as seamless as possible.”

Offering the example of hiring for a Math teacher, Chairman George Truman requested an accounting from Long on how EPI would go about finding, vetting, and hiring a teacher for the Anson County School District.

“First of all we recruit in about 55 countries. We begin by vetting a transcript,” Long said. “North Carolina has identified several companies that will do an evaluation of international transcripts. Once that transcript has been vetted through that process we know if the teacher can meet the other standards, that they could qualify to teach in this case, North Carolina. We do a criminal background check on them, so if the teacher has moved around from country to country we do require references from all their listed locations going back five years. We try to determine if they can make that cultural transition. Teachers are required to have two years teaching experience. On average, ours have eight.”

Once hired, EPI staff will handle the process moving forward, assisting the educator with obtaining their visa, help the teacher with their transition to the United States, give them a $3,000.00 interest free loan, a cell phone and computer, help them with their airline ticket and meet them at the airport.

“We have an opportunity to purchase a car through networking with a car company that is capable of selling cars to international teachers that do not have a social security number. That is a big stumbling block,” notes Long, “Because anyone that comes into the United States has to wait ten days before they can apply for a social security number.”

Asked about the profile for an ideal candidate, Long detailed, “A lot of it stems from a conversation we have with them about their perception of expectations.… many of our teachers do bring dependents and if they are married and have two children under age 21, that can work. There is a variety of filters we use to determine if we feel that teacher can be successful,” answered Long.

Linda Davis and Mike Turner had several questions regarding living expenses for the educators, leading Turner to ask, “You say you are going to give them a three thousand dollar loan and out of that come rent and a car payment… are these teachers going to have enough money to repay all this stuff?”

“Its tight, I’ll be honest with you,” lamented Long. “North Carolina pays next to nothing compared to other states so it is very difficult.”

Concerned with cost, Turner returned to the outline of fees listing the district as paying $75,000.00 per teacher, up to a million dollars in five years should they chose to hire ten or twelve educators through EPI’s service.

“Have we done any research into where that money will be coming from over a period of five or ten years? Do we have those kind of funds in Anson County?” Turner asked.

Answering his fellow board members, Truman surmised, “We draw down money from the state that pays for the health insurance and other extras, but we don’t have to spend that money. The money he [Long] is talking about coming from sits in our account and that is what accumulates over time making this a cost mutual expenditure.”

“We are saving the state retirement and insurance basically… but we got to pay for everything else because we got to pay worker’s comp,” reasoned Carol Gibson.

“Look at the rate of retirement insurance because that money stays in our account,” Truman defended. “You look at the cost of benefit because that money stays in our account and that is what accumulates to offset this.”

“The issue is that after five years we no longer retain the intellectual property of that person… that person now has to leave us and we start that process back over again,” Davis stated. “It is a term of investment that we are looking for. We may have bodies in the seats… I just hate that we are providing opportunities that will ultimately end up becoming a constant cycle of starting over.”