Staff report

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke is sending an urgent message to Scotland County teacher assistants who have been laid off.

The School of Education wants to discuss your future.

Representatives from the offices of Teacher Recruitment, Financial Aid and Admissions stand ready to talk on short notice, said Sandra Strickland, Director of Teacher recruitment at UNCP.

There may be as many as 500 teacher’s assistants who have been laid off in the 11 school districts in UNCP’s region, Strickland said.

“First, it’s unfortunate that anyone has lost their job,” she said. “For education in our region, this group of school employees represents a real asset for our schools and communities – they are fully trained and working successfully in our schools.”

Turning wasted assets into certified teachers is the goal. The School of Education has sent out inquiries to all surrounding school systems. Now they would like to hear from the teacher assistants.

“We consistently recruit teacher assistants to our programs every year,” Strickland said. “They are uniquely qualified to become teachers because they are trained and already successful in the classroom.”

Strickland said school officials will meet the teacher assistants individually or in groups to “see where they are and what we can do.”

“If they cannot start until the spring semester, at least we have started the process,” she said.