Greeted by Odessa and Permian high school cheerleaders, as well as administrators, about 250 teachers turned out to the annual new teacher welcome event Monday hosted by the Odessa Chamber of Commerce.
The welcome was held at the MCM Grande Hotel and FunDome.
Teachers were able to pick up supplies and learn about businesses, nonprofits, homes or apartments.
Teachers coming to the district are homegrown, coming from other states or other parts of the world. ECISD Superintendent Scott Muri said the district will equip them with the tools and resources they need to be highly effective from day one.
“Their colleagues, once they begin the school year, will really surround them. All these new folks will have a mentor to provide the support that they need to be successful in the classroom. But it also takes a village. Today is an example of the community coming out to support these new folks,” Muri said.
He added that along with West Texas, other parts of the state and nation, teachers are coming to Odessa from all over the world.
About 10 percent of the teacher workforce come from different countries, Muri said.
Additionally, people come from other states with their spouses or they are home grown.
“We grow our own. We have a lot of pipelines and ECISD to grow and develop teachers of our own, so it’s really a combination of all of those that you’ll see today,” Muri said.
He added that they are still hiring and that this was a good recruiting year. Most of the schools are fully staffed.
“We had another good recruiting year. Right now it’s fine tuning. Most of our schools are fully staffed, but still some of those hard to staff areas are bilingual teachers, our special education teachers and sometimes math teachers, science teachers. But right now bilingual and special education are the two probably biggest certification areas that we’re looking for,” Muri said.
He noted that new teachers get mentors and they have a variety of new teachers coming on board.
“Not all of them are new to the profession, but today we’re seeing new teachers to the district. Some of these folks are brand new, right out of college and others may have taught for 20 years in another school system. … We really focus our mentor energy on people that are new to the profession. Each of our brand new teachers will have a mentor to support them as they begin this first year of their teaching career,” Muri said.
The first days of school are August 12 and 13. Prekindergarten through sixth grade and ninth grade start on Aug. 12. On Aug. 13, seventh, eighth grade and 10th, 11th and 12th grade.
“I always look forward to the first day of school. That’s probably one of the most exciting days of the year as everybody comes in with their new shoes and new clothes and just the excitement to greet their folks. It’s fun to watch the teachers engage with those kids on the first day as well and then to see those kids excited to be back in the school setting,” Muri said.
Elena Sanchez and Yana Scott will both be teaching sixth-grade English language arts and reading at Ector College Prep.
This is their first year of teaching.
Sanchez, who grew up in Odessa, said she did her student teaching at Ector last semester through University of Texas Permian Basin. This will be her first year on her own in her own classroom.
“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling confident. I was at Ector last year, so I am excited to be there in that culture at the same school,” she added.
Scott, who was born and raised in Odessa, said she is super excited, but also nervous about her new job.
“I’m just ready to get to engage” and learn with the kids, Scott said.
ECISD board member Wayne Woodall was attending his first teacher welcome.
“It’s great,” Woodall said of the event. “I’ve never seen anything like this and the turnout’s amazing.”
“We always have a bunch retire, so it’s good that we’ve got the fresh crew coming in,” Woodall said.
Odessa Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Renee Earls said the welcome is an ideal opportunity for chamber members to connect with the new teachers and show their appreciation.
“I’m born and raised in Odessa; would not live anywhere else, so I’m pretty partial, but I think they have moved to the best community in the country. They will realize that we’re a very friendly community, we want to welcome them and really roll out the red carpet. And that’s what we do with this reception,” Earls said.
“Chevron joins us as our major sponsor. We have more than 50 vendors in there to show the love for these new teachers, whether they live here in Odessa and they’re just maybe changing from one district to the other, or they are completely new to Odessa having never been here before and this will be their home at least for the next year. We hope for much longer,” Earls said.
She added that she always loves to see the expression on the teachers’ faces when they leave because they are so appreciative.
“There aren’t any communities who do this and who really load them down with lots of goodies. They’re going to walk out of there with a lot of love tonight and realize that you’re really valued, appreciated,” Earls said.
