From troops to teachers

ST. LOUIS -- Serena Rowan has been an Army drill sergeant, recruiter, sergeant major, and director of personnel, on top of civilian jobs she's held with a phone company and a boys home.

She's now settled happily into teaching -- "my calling," she says -- through a re-energized federal program that helps former military personnel find jobs in public education. Her assignment: teach special-education youngsters in a suburban St. Louis school where 93 percent of the children qualify for free or reduced lunches, one measure of poverty.

She came to the Ferguson-Florissant School District last year through Troops to Teachers, a federal jobs program begun in 1994 when military personnel were being squeezed out of a shrinking military.

Like the Peace Corps or the old Vista volunteer program, participants must commit to working for a time in places such as rural or inner-city schools. Troops to Teachers pays participants either $5,000 toward earning their teacher's certification or a $10,000 bonus for a three-year teaching commitment. That's on top of their school district paycheck and any military retirement income.

Efficiency and discipline

Advocates say former military personnel bring efficiency, organization, dedication and discipline to the classroom, as well as a pride suggested by the program's official Web site: www.proudtoserveagain.com.

Some educators -- even those who admit an antimilitary bias -- say they have been impressed with the new teachers and that their skills have transferred well.

Others have not as readily embraced them, saying the military and the classroom are too dissimilar for any carry-over of skills.

But there's another issue at play.

While teachers are in demand, school districts have been hit hard by the current economy. At a time when budget shortfalls are forcing districts to cut teaching and support positions -- 3,300 in Missouri alone in the coming school year -- some are wary of outsiders competing for their jobs.

"There's no evidence that military are any better as teachers," said Dick Andrews, dean of the College of Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"But they're an available pool of people; their interest is a first step. The question is can we teach them to be effective teachers?"

'Not been disappointed'

For the short answer, ask Luther Ginger, assistant principal of Johnson Wabash Elementary School, where Rowan teaches. Rowan, Ginger said, arrives early, stays late, sets high standards for her charges and has made a difference in their lives. "We have not been disappointed," he said. "She's here for the kids."

Rowan said she learned of Troops to Teachers after retiring in 2002 with 30 years in the military. She'd taught adults part-time off base while in the military and knew she wanted to take teaching a step further, with kids this time.

She chose children with learning disabilities because "they need more than anybody else," she said. "They need someone who is caring, steadfast, who never runs out. I'm that person."

With the military's downsizing, Congress funded Troops to Teachers in 1994 and '95, but funding and interest dropped to a trickle in the latter part of the decade, in part because of the U.S. peacekeeping role in Bosnia starting in December 1995.

The program was essentially dormant until spring 2001, when First Lady Laura Bush, a former school teacher, began publicly endorsing it. The program received $18 million in 2002 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. About $20 million has been proposed for 2003. It is a U.S. Department of Education program, but in fact is run by the Department of Defense.

"It was a hard sell at first," said Peter E. Peters, assistant chief of Troops to Teachers at its national headquarters in Pensacola, Fla. "People didn't want to deal with the federal government and the strings attached, and they were apprehensive about hiring military people. They don't want a drill instructor or a fighter pilot teaching kindergarten."

Missouri's Troops to Teachers program began in 1999, and now has about 20 former military in the state's classrooms. Another 75 are seeking jobs, said Chad Schatz, director.

Schatz said districts tell him all the time that his teachers are confident, organized, high performers and good role models. Before they can teach, they must have an appropriate degree or vocational trade and earn an alternative teachers certification.

Others have doubts.

Greg Jung, president of the Missouri National Education Association, said he has concerns about any quick entrees to the teaching profession.

Scot Danforth, chair of the division of teaching and learning at the University of Missouri-St. Louis' College of Education, said military discipline doesn't work with an 8-year-old.

"Public schools and children don't work that way," he said. "The chains of command are loose, authority is always questionable, even the authority of teachers."

Susan Adler, director of teacher education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said she had her doubts too, but she has seen her own "child of the '60s, anti-military bias" crumble.

"I observed one who was strict, fun, and fair," she said "The kids knew what was expected or there would be consequences.

"He had classroom management licked. He was strict, but not in a negative way. That's not untypical."