East St. Louis schools turn to international teachers to fill critical staff vacancies

By St. Louis Public Radio- Hiba Ahmad

East St. Louis School District 189 is turning to qualified international teachers to help fill critical staff vacancies.

The district brought on a dozen teachers at the start of the 2025-26 school year and plans to add 12 more for the next school year. The teachers represent a small portion of the approximately 570 teachers across the district.

The district joins the Normandy Schools Collaborative, Riverview Gardens and St. Louis Public Schools districts in a growing trend in the St. Louis region to hire foreign talent to lead classrooms in subjects like math, special education and science.

“We needed to fill vacancies, and we didn’t want to start off the school year with vacancies because that’s not great for our kids,” said Valencia Martin Hawkins, chief human resource officer.

The district partnered with a recruitment agency, We Dare to Teach, which vets the teachers’ credentials, including degrees and teaching certifications.

The agency then helps candidates navigate the U.S. immigration system and find safe housing for teachers.

The teachers are required to secure a J-1 cultural exchange visa, which allows them to legally stay in the U.S. for three years. Then they are required to return to their home countries for two years.

The district’s decision to recruit international teachers comes amid President Donald Trump’s increased crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration in the U.S.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration suspended processing of immigrant visa applications from 75 countries.

Hawkins said that some teachers in the first cohort were unable to obtain a visa due to increased scrutiny from the federal government. 

She acknowledged that the district is still prioritizing recruiting teachers from the region because of the temporary nature of the J-1 visas, but competition from neighboring school districts that offer higher pay and benefits makes it challenging. Read more here.