Teacher Renewal Center planned

A new teacher retreat center will be built in an effort to stop Palmetto State teachers from leaving their profession.

Clemson University and the state Education Department announced on Thursday a partnership to create a Teacher Renewal Center in Pickens County to help retain the best teachers.

The center, the first of its kind in the state, will focus less on traditional training activities and more on inspiring teachers spiritually and physically. It will try to reconnect teachers to what initially led them to the classroom.

"The emphasis is not going to be on (academic) content, although there will be some of that," said state schools Superintendent Jim Rex. "It's going to be on experiences and reflection and helping them renew and rejuvenate themselves as people and professionals."

It's important for teachers to have opportunities to refresh themselves, and for the most part the state hasn't provided that opportunity, he said.

The center will include a hotel, restaurant and conference complex on the Keowee River. It will serve teams of up to 25 kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers statewide during free, weeklong residential seminars.

Jim Anthony, chief executive officer and founder of the exclusive Cliffs Communities, has donated $10 million and more than 355 acres to make the center a reality. He has pledged to raise $15 million from the private sector for startup funds.

Anthony plans to begin searching for an architect for the center, which likely won't open for another few years. State officials will begin developing its curriculum and the teacher selection process, and they hope to pilot a program this summer.

The center's director will be paid by Clemson and the state department, and Clemson will run the day-to-day operations through an expanded version of its Youth Learning Institute. The institute coordinates nature-based education programs for teachers and students, and the center also will serve students while theirteachers participate in seminars.

The center's long-term funding likely will be a mix of ongoing corporate support, grants and money from school districts to subsidize teams of teachers. Officials hope the state eventually will support it with public money.

Part of the center's purpose is to encourage teachers to remain in classrooms. One in three new teachers leaves the profession within five years, and more than 6,800 teachers will not return to the schools where they taught last year, according to the Education Department.

The state already funds the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, and its major retention efforts involve training teacher mentors to guide those who are new to the profession, said Mychal Frost, the center's public information coordinator. The center also tries to re-energize teachers of the year during a weekend retreat, and the new center will complement those initiatives, he said.

Charleston schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley said the new center would be good for the state because "anything that elevates the profession of teaching is positive." She said she hoped the state would try to give as many teachers as possible the chance to go there.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@post andcourier.com.