A group of parents from Durham’s Murray-Massenburg Elementary School is pushing the district to sponsor an H1 visa for a beloved teacher.
Elvin Herrera teaches art to students in every grade at the new elementary school.
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PTA President Natassia Ott calls him a shining light for the school.
"He helps at every school event, staying long hours after school to help with the programs. He helps with appreciation of school leaders. He also connects our students with local organizations. He has dance groups come to perform,” Ott said. "He's had some of our students’ artwork put into a Duke University art gallery."
Herrera has been teaching for years in Durham under a J-1 visa. Those visas are typically three years long, with an option to extend for another two years.
Ott said Herrera was in the process of working with DPS to apply for a longer-term H1 visa when he learned the district would no longer assist with that application.
Herrera’s J-1 visa expires at the end of this school year.
"He was already in the process of applying when they changed the policy, so it's really not fair to him and to the school to pause the process partway through when the district had already initiated that last summer,” Ott said. "The sponsorship application process takes months to do so he doesn't have many options to stay in Durham or elsewhere."
Ott and other parents argue the issue goes beyond this single elementary school teacher.
"It's also unfair to the teachers who thought there could be exceptions, and to schools like ours who want to keep our teacher. I don't see why DPS can't make an exception if we've done it before,” Ott said. "We have other teachers here at our school that will be coming up for continuation, and we want to know - and they want to know - what their future is."
During the April 9 Durham Board of Education work session, Ott and dozens of other parents and teachers participated in public comment, pushing the district to work to keep Herrera employed in Durham.
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Nicholas King said during the meeting that the district is returning to its “standard” practice.
“Some time ago, as a response to some challenges we were having with identifying staff through the pandemic, there were some exceptions made to that process. Those folks who had additional visas applied for were, in fact, an exception, not the rule,” King said in the meeting.
Some School Board members expressed concern over retention during that meeting.
"If an international teacher is choosing who is looking for options to stay and wants to stay and we're not giving them the option, that's opening the door. They're going to charter schools. The charter schools are giving them the option to stay. So, I am curious um what that looks like equitably,” said School Board Member Joy Harrell Goff.
Murray-Massenburg parents also feel the policy can impact teacher retention.
"It's also important to support that trust within our community, keep students in our public schools. This is the type of thing - taking wonderful teachers away - that can lead to families deciding to go to a different school,” Ott said.
Ott argues consistency in the classroom is important for student outcomes.
"It's really thinking about how much are we valuing our teacher retention, and if we're shooting ourselves in the foot if we're not retaining the teachers who want to be here,” she said.
A Durham Public Schools spokesperson said it allowed a limited number of extensions during and just after the COVID pandemic. The district's current practice of not renewing J1 visas beyond five years has been the standard for years. There are 264 current DPS teachers there on J1 visas.
"Durham Public Schools deeply values the contributions of international teachers and the exceptional work they bring to our classrooms each day," the district said. "We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with the agencies that support and place international educators in our schools."