Hiring Teachers and Creating Culture

Teachers in a hybrid school are your most valuable resource. Just like in any school, these are the people implementing the vision and spending time with the kids on the front lines. Teachers should be trained well, supported throughout the year, and paid fairly. Applications should be thorough and interviews long enough to get a feel for the applicant’s strengths, experience, and personality.

What should you look for in a teacher?

• Loves kids and have the emotional and physical energy for them.

• Has experience teaching the age or subject in some capacity.

• Has managed groups of children.

• A willingness to learn new things and be part of a team.

If these things are in place, nearly everything else can be trained. So, what is less essential?

• Familiarity with exact curricula or philosophy

• Certification (unless you are following Education law. In a home-school supplement model, there is usually no regulation on teachers).

What to avoid?

• A sense of burn-out.

• A very independent personality that is not willing to implement your vision.

You are the one setting the culture of your program. You will do this with clear expectations, clear curriculum and schedule guidelines, support for easy communication, trainings (before school starts and during the year), staff meetings, and plenty of supportive presence. Your teachers should see you as the director, at the door, in the hallways, at recess, peeking into their schoolroom…and always with a sense of you being their helper/leader. You are setting them up for success by troubleshooting with them and communicating the goals of your program effectively, and you know what is going on because you are present!

Do these things and your hybrid school will be a place of camradarie and high standards, and your teachers will be happy to bring your vision to life!