Educators out of melting pot

For 27 years, minority-starved school districts across Missouri have been begging art teacher Lawrence Brookins and his wife, Willetta, to come work for them.

The offers for the Cape Girardeau couple got better in the past decade, as the numbers of black and Hispanic students exploded and potential teachers of the same races fled to other, higher-paying fields.

"We still get recruitment letters in the mail, but we just toss them in the trash now," said Willetta, who now works at the school district board office. "We're dedicated to Cape Girardeau."

Diversity among teachers has been a long-standing problem in Cape Girardeau County, but a survey released Wednesday by the National Education Association confirms the problem is nationwide.

The NEA's "Status of the American Public School Teacher," a wide-ranging survey conducted every five years, reported only 10 percent of America's 3 million teachers are minorities and just 21 percent are men.

"It denies many young people the opportunity to have a minority or a male as a role model," said NEA president Reg Weaver.

In Cape Girardeau, minorities make up 26 percent of the student population, but only 2 percent of the teacher population. Willetta Brookins said she wants to know why. "It's not going to stop, and it scares me," she said.

The frightening thing to her: Diversity in the classroom is going to change all students' outlook on dealing with other races and ethnicities in the future. She said having black role models in the classroom demonstrates a potential career for minority students.

School officials say it's not a lack of recruitment efforts or salary alone that keep minorities away from Cape Girardeau. Superintendent Mark Bowles laments that it's tough to sell the community to them.

"Candidates are able to find a greater culture to identify with and a much higher salary in urban areas. Unless they specifically wanted to stay in Cape Girardeau, we don't stand a chance," Bowles said.

Dr. Steve Trautwein, a member of the Cape Girardeau School Board, raised the issue at a recent school board meeting. He started mulling it over in January at a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday event. Speakers complained that, when Cape Girardeau schools integrated, black teachers weren't allowed to transfer to formerly all-white schools.

He agreed that, today, community culture is the biggest drawback.

"If we're going to make a meaningful impact on increasing diversity, this is a change that will have to come from the community too," Trautwein said.

Three in Jackson

In Jackson, where minorities make up only 3 percent of the student population and 1 percent of the teacher population, the issue isn't as severe.

Staci Beussink is one of Jackson's three minority teachers, all of whom are based at South Elementary School.

"Being Hispanic is not something I think about on a daily basis," said Beussink, who teaches gifted students. "Most people don't notice I'm a minority. They might say, 'Hey, you've got a nice tan,' but it doesn't really hit them."

Beussink's youth was spent in a predominantly Hispanic community in Texas and traveling around the world with her father, who was in the Air Force.

Now, working in a school district that is 99 percent white, she realizes the benefits diversity can bring to teaching.

"I do miss the diversity I was raised in," Beussink said. "I find myself communicating more with the diverse people I met growing up. But I look at this community and the people here, and this is my home now."

Jackson superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson also recognizes the need for, and the problems related with, attracting minority teachers.

"There have been all kinds of opportunities for minorities in the business world," Anderson said. "Businesses can be more aggressive in their recruitment and can pay more than schools."

Trying to be more aggressive, Cape Girardeau school officials have invited Lawrence and Willetta Brookins, who have been with the district eight years, on recruitment trips to colleges throughout Missouri and nearby states. Willetta Brookins said they're often asked questions about Cape Girardeau's night life and dating scene.

"Of course, that's not why we came. We felt we had something to contribute to the community," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128