Beaufort County Schools has established a program to help in recruitment and retention of educators in the system.

The program, known as CARRE (Communities Aiding in Recruiting and Retaining Educators) is designed to connect local businesses and employees of the school system, said BCS Superintendent Dr. Don Phipps. The multifaceted program consists of a discount system for all BCS employees as well as a collection of tangible incentives for new teachers joining the school system.

“We began the CARRE program as an effort to create an incentive for prospective teachers,” Phipps said. “We felt that if we had tangible items that demonstrated the support they would have from our community, while at the same time relieving the stress associated with relocating, and for some starting their first full-time job, it would send a powerfully positive message.”

Phipps said the collection of tangible items available to new teachers from businesses and service providers, includes goods and services, special offers, deposit waivers, subscriptions and more. The collected items will be put in a basket and displayed along with other BCS materials and information at job fairs and other locations where recruiting activities are occurring. The baskets are given to new teachers once they are hired and distributed during the week of new teacher orientation and professional development, Phipps said.

The first phase of the program, which involved school system leaders working with parent representatives and local business, showcased a discount program for the nearly 1,000 employees in the system. A card was created, highlighting local businesses and service providers, that offers discounts to BCS employees who patronize their businesses. The card holds up to 30 business logos and the discount being offered, Phipps said. Phipps said PotashCorp-Aurora provided funds for BCS to print the CARRE savings card that was distributed to all employees during the first week of school.

“As we went through the process, we also wanted to do something for all the employees that we already have,” Phipps said. “We wanted to find a meaningful way to thank them for their dedication and commitment to our students, our school system and the communities we serve. By including all employees we are stressing the importance of each employee and the roles and responsibilities they have. We know how critical the work of everyone in our system is to student success.”

A website and a digital brochure, showing all of the businesses and service providers who have chosen to support education by joining the CARRE Network, is also underway, Phipps said. A window sticker will be created for businesses to display, showing their support of the program, giving a visual sign for BCS employees and anyone else that the business supports public education in Beaufort County, Phipps said. The participating vendors and service providers are considered CARRE Partners.

“My hope is that many others will want to become part of the network that supports our educators by offering discounts or other incentives,” Phipps said. “I also hope that we have to move beyond the discount card. I hope we have more than 70 businesses and service providers on a dynamic webpage that our employees can browse before making a purchase. By patronizing CARRE partners, our employees are supporting those who support us and they are doing business locally — both are very important.

“We truly appreciate the support we receive, and our employees are very excited that they have this card to use this year throughout our community. They will save each time it is used, and the process will propagate the support being shown to our employees by making the discount possible.

Any business or service provider who would like to become a BCS CARRE partner can contact Sarah Hodges at Beaufort County Schools central services office at 252-946-6593 or access information on the BCS Website.