Live-streamed teachers could become reality in Bibb classrooms

A teacher instructing students through an online video feed could be coming to Bibb County’s classrooms.

The school board is set to vote Tuesday on a contract with Proximity Learning Inc., a company that provides certified teachers as long-term substitutes during teaching vacancies or when teachers have a long-term medical situation.

“We had some vacancies last year that we unfortunately couldn’t fill and went most of the year with a substitute teacher,” said Paige Busbee, the district’s assistant superintendent for human resources.

Based on a variety of factors, the Bibb County school system had about 40 vacancies last August. While that number was down to about a dozen this year, with principals still interviewing to fill some of them, that will leave some classes with long-term substitutes that aren’t certified teachers.

“We see this as a way to help that substitute until we could get a certified teacher in there,” Busbee said.

A substitute would still be present to manage the classroom and facilitate the assignments given by the live-streamed teacher, who would likely work with the students three days a week via Skype. Students would be able to use electronic devices to communicate with the teacher and ask questions.

“It’s really interactive,” Busbee said.

If approved at Tuesday’s meeting, the contract will allow for three teachers in Bibb County, likely two at the middle school level and one for an elementary school class. Busbee said they would initially be used for vacancies, but they could also be an asset when filling in long term for an existing teacher.

Either way, the plan would be to get a live, certified teacher in the classroom eventually.

“The goal would not be to keep them all year,” Busbee said.

Even if that happened, the financial side of the deal makes it a good option. The cost of the substitute plus the live-streamed teacher is just over $60,000 per school year, while a teacher’s salary plus benefits is estimated at an average of about $65,000.

Busbee said that in the long run such teachers could be used if there were just a few students at multiple schools that needed or wanted to take a particular subject.

“You can combine those classes through technology,” she said.

The board is also scheduled to discuss expanding the classroom camera technology already in use at some schools, minority participation in capital projects and other business at Tuesday’s meeting, which will begin with the committee portion at 4 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of every month, but this month’s gathering was rescheduled because of Macon Charter Academy’s termination hearing at the state offices in Atlanta.

This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Live-streamed teachers could become reality in Bibb classrooms."