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.
In the meantime, the district will turn to teachers like Princess Jack Lee Roquero, a special education teacher from the Philippines, to help support third grade and fifth grade students at James Avant Elementary School.
Roquero works in a one-on-one capacity with students, which feels familiar to the work she was doing back home.
“I’m really more passionate about handling kids in a one-on-one setting, getting to know them better, getting to know their skills, their needs and the areas to work on,” Roquero said.
All international teachers have to meet the same teacher certification requirements as teachers educated in the U.S., which Hawkins says the recruitment agency handles.
Roquero felt prepared to teach but was more eager to understand the cultural norms of the St. Louis region and how she’d adapt.
For example, Roquero recalled that her family and friends told her that Americans don’t smile and laugh enough.
“And then guess what? When I came here, you can see everyone’s gums. They’re always smiling and hugging you,” she said. “They were all misconceptions.”
Hawkins said she is proud to welcome teachers from all around the world, which diversifies the schools.
“To have those conversations with another colleague from a different country, it brings unity to say that we have the same problem, but we can work together and get it done,” she said.
The district has welcomed teachers from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Philippines.
