Red River parish is part of a multi-year, very lucrative Teacher Incentive grant funded by the federal government. It is aimed at helping teachers improve their quality of teaching. The grant is for the current and the next four school years.

The Director of Student Learning is Karen Squires. She explained at the March school board meeting that TIF (the Teacher Incentive Fund) is “about having the best teachers in the classroom working with trained mentors and good leaders.” Squires said, “This would create a pool of great people working with our students everyday.”

At present there are three trained teacher mentors in the parish. “We want to expand the mentor program, to get ten to twelve mentors in the parish,” said Squires. She adds “this could attract high school seniors and help them make the decision to become teachers in the parish.”

One person will be hired to head the program. The job description was approved so the job search can begin.

Board member Gene Longino had questions about who would bear the costs. He asked, “Will any of the money come from the minimum foundation state funds the board receives? What about expenses that would be paid from our general fund?”

Squires stated, “It is all being funded totally by the federal grant. It’s all federal money.”