Jamestown Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker addresses school board (February 25, 2025)
The Jamestown Public Schools district is hoping a new transportation program will help bring student teachers to the district.
The Jamestown School Board recently approved the use of a district school bus to transport student teachers from SUNY Fredonia to JPS.
Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the bus was being used initially to transport JPS students to Fredonia for the P-TECH program through BOCES, “Then we put the students from Fredonia on the bus and bring it back and drop them off at schools, so they can experience classrooms with teachers. And then, of course, at the end of the day we drive them back up, drop them off at Fredonia, pick up the P-TECH kids and bring them home. So, no additional mileage put on because of that.”
Whitaker said there are about 40 SUNY Fredonia student teachers, or potential student teachers, in the JPS school district right now.
He said it has been tough to attract student teachers, “For everyone it’s been difficult to gather new people because specifically in teacher prep programs enrollment has dropped 50% since pre-Pandemic. So, it’s very challenging to find people when you don’t have people coming out of those programs.”
Whitaker said with colleges cutting educational programs, it’s been hard to find student teachers pursuing certification in foreign languages, special education, counseling, arts, and technical education, “It’s kind of a ripple effect as it impacts the colleges and their programming and it affects who we can attract for teachers.”
Whitaker said the largest group of student teachers at JPS right now is for elementary school certification.
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