Two of Georgia's largest school districts plan changes in how they hire foreign teachers following an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation that publicized complaints of unfair working conditions at the state's largest private recruitment firm.
DeKalb Superintendent Michael Thurmond said the district will put out for public bid its annual contract for international teachers, with additional language meant to bring greater accountability, while moving toward less use of recruiting firms. Atlanta Public Schools said it will discontinue use of the firms entirely.
Neither district offered any guarantees for the approximately three dozen teachers currently in its classrooms, a continuation of the arm’s-length approach districts have used with international teachers. That means teachers hired by recruiting firms currently in the districts likely will find themselves looking a new job in another district. If they can’t find one, they and their families could be forced to leave the country under the terms of their work visas.
The AJC investigation found Georgia school districts since 2010 have spent at least $52.5 million in taxpayer money paying recruiting firms to import foreign teachers to staff hard-to-fill positions in math, science and special education. DeKalb spent the most of any district — $16.3 million — on such contracts, while APS spent just under $5 million, good for third during the period.
Most of these teachers come to America on a type of temporary work visa called an H-1B, often used by high-tech companies seeking computer programmers from abroad.
In Georgia, the largest recruiting firm is Jonesboro-based Global Teachers Research and Resources, which was fined in 2011 by the U.S. Department of Labor for failing to properly pay its employees for time spent in training.
Some teachers told the AJC that Global asked them to pay some or all of their immigration expenses, while others said they went weeks or months without pay while waiting for a job with a school district. If true, the company may have violated federal law. The Labor Department is again looking into Global, according to a query letter sent to teachers in November.
Global owner Paddy Sharma has defended her business practices, while acknowledging that some employees don't receive a full wage until they land a job with a district and that payroll sometimes runs late when districts fail to remit contract payments on time. In an email Thursday, Sharma said the loss of the APS contract was unfortunate, especially for "our loyal and hardworking teachers."
“They loved the school system and got emotionally attached to the schools they were working,” she said. “I am sure APS will consider (them) when there is a critical need that arises in the future.”
In the meantime, she said she is confident her teachers will land positions in other Georgia districts. Since 2010, Global has supplied international teachers to at least 21 Georgia districts, but places teachers in other states as well, including Florida and Mississippi.
More accountability in DeKalb
Following the AJC’s initial report on allegations against Global, Thurmond asked the district’s lawyers for a review.
Thurmond said the report showed no applicable laws relating to the district’s relationship with the teachers, in part because the teachers work as contractors and remain the employees of the recruiting firms that sponsor their visas.
“The relationship that exists is as a contractor and we have scores, if not tens of thousands of contractors that do business with us,” he said. “The employees are the responsibility of the contractor. This is very similar to what we do with so many other contractors.”
However, he said the review uncovered that the contracts had not been publicly bid in at least a decade. The district plans to solicit bids for the next school year in an announcement next week.
“A $3 million (annual) contract that has not been put out in an (request for proposal) bid process is, to me, an issue that should be addressed,” he said. Thurmond said the bidding will bring “competition and transparency” to the district’s use of foreign teachers. He also said the bid specifications will bring greater accountability to the recruiting firms.
And what of the current teachers in the DeKalb system who could lose their positions if their recruiting company does not win a portion of the contract for next school year?
“We have 181 school districts (in Georgia),” he said, implying they could seek jobs elsewhere.
Unlike most teachers hired directly by the school district, Global’s teachers do not get tenure or retirement benefits, meaning they can be moved from school to school, district to district, at will. Because their work visa is tied to the recruiting firm, the teachers have little room to negotiate. In DeKalb, because they are contract employees, international teachers were told last fall they would no longer receive paid sick leave, a position Thurmond defended in an interview this week.
Along with rebidding the contract, Thurmond said he has instructed the district’s human resources department to reduce its reliance on recruiting firms generally.
“We are going to become more aggressive in recruiting these hard to fill positions from international as well as American teachers,” he said.
That may mean the district will directly sponsor the visas of some teachers, he said.
“We’ll, hopefully, have the capability to do that,” he said.
Unanswered questions in Atlanta
Atlanta Public Schools was less forthcoming about its decision to no longer use recruiting firms like Global. Spokespeople for the district said the district was discontinuing the use of these firms, but they would not allow the AJC to talk to policymakers about the decision and did not offer details about what would happen to the dozen international teachers currently in APS schools.
“APS wants its teachers to be employees of the district and to be paid on the same salary schedule,” said APS spokeswoman Jill Strickland in an email. “An interview on this matter is not possible given that APS has no additional information to share on this issue.”
When asked if APS planned to sponsor the visas of its foreign teachers — a necessary move if the affected teachers and their families are to remain in the country — Strickland’s answer was inconclusive.
“APS’ decision not to renew this contract has nothing to do with visas,” she said.
Strickland was not much more forthcoming when reached by telephone.
“They can apply for a job directly just like any other qualified person who wants to work,” she said.
But that would mean the district would have to directly sponsor the teachers’ visas.
“That question we have not answered,” she said.
Jim Knoepp, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Georgia school districts have gotten away with “outsourcing” their immigrant labor needs to recruiting firms instead of directly sponsoring the teachers’ visas. This puts international teachers in a vulnerable position when it comes to claims of unjust treatment, since they don’t have the protections domestic teachers enjoy.
“Their immigration status is tied with working with this person who is sponsoring their visa,” he said. “They are very reticent to come forward even through they are being taken advantage of.”
But he said districts may not be as insulated as they think.
“The recruiter isn’t in the schools every day making sure the teachers are following lesson plans,” he said. “The Department of Labor would and should consider them to be joint employers.”
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