By Rory O’Connor & Sofia Alvarez-Pedraza
In room 235 there are around 25 desks, but on a Thursday in January, only 10 students are in Brendan Mejos’ third-period math 4 class.
Only some of the lights on the ceiling work; the class is bare except for simple math posters on the wall. Students are scattered, sitting far away from one another. Two scroll their phones while another sleeps as their teacher explains the final project of the semester.
Mejos has been a teacher for 13 years. She took a leap of faith last year and moved from the Philippines to the U.S. to teach in Durham.
The opportunity arose through her colleagues in the Philippines.
“I tried my luck at applying for a J-1 Visa,” Mejos said.
Coming here was a difficult change. She left her husband and children behind and had to navigate an unknown place. Winters are colder. The classroom technology is different. But the biggest adjustment was the students.
“To be honest, in my home country, the students are very respectful,” she said. “It’s different here because the culture is different. [In the Philippines] it’s really easy to manage students because just giving them a look, they are already scared, but here you cannot do that. Even if you do that, they do not care.”
But Mejos found a community within the other international faculty. She was able to move her husband and kids here on her visa.
Her colleagues have been very welcoming, working with five other Filipino teachers helped Mejos adapt.
“It really helped a lot,” says Mejos.
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
Riverside currently has seven international teachers here from the Philippines and Jamaica. Durham Public Schools (DPS) has employed international teachers for a long time, but the number has increased in recent years.
“Of the 290 international teachers we have, I have probably brought in 200,” said Michelle Hayes, DPS’ executive director of talent acquisition and employee recognition. She’s the person in charge of reading the district’s vacancy reports and hiring teachers.
DPS works with Global Teaching, an organization that acts as a visa sponsor and connects candidates with district administrators.
Teachers came from all over the world to teach in Durham. They each hold a J-1 Visa, which is a cultural exchange work visa. J-1’s can be used for teaching as well as research; ultimately, they serve a cultural exchange and learning purpose.
This visa allows teachers to come here and work, experience the American culture, and teach their students about their personal culture. When they go back to their home country, they get to teach students about everything they experienced in America.
There are numerous different work visas. H1-B visas, in particular, have been under pressure from the Trump administration. A September 2025 policy change added an additional $100,000 fee to all H1-B visas.
This change impacts the future of many international workers and whether or not they will be able to continue to work in America.
Unlike H1-B, J-1 visa holders are not experiencing a drastic change in eligibility requirements.
“I haven’t heard any changes for J-1…I hope not,” said Hayes. “And if there will be changes I hope they are for the better, like extended for more years.”
GROWING DEMAND
One of the reasons DPS decided to work with international employees to address teacher shortages. When districts can’t find qualified applicants to fill open positions, hiring from outside of the country allows them to find experienced educators.
“If you’re looking at 100 faculty members, about 10% of your staff is international teachers,” said Hayes.” Some schools have more than that and some schools have none. I put the information out for principals to let them know if they are interested in hiring international teachers.”
Tom Tomberlin, senior director of educator preparation, licensure, and performance for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, explained the data and reasoning behind the large loss of teachers in a March 2025 interview with the UNC Media Hub.
“Historically, North Carolina has hired more teachers than it loses in any given year,” Tomberlin said. “In the last report that we did on this subject, we did see that attrition in the state went up pretty high last year relative to what we’ve seen in previous years.”
Tomberlin’s job is to track hiring and turnover rates. According to data he collected, more than 10,000 of NC’s 90,000 teachers left the field of teaching in 2023. Reasons for leaving ranged from retiring to dissatisfaction with the career.
The state also encounters hiring issues related to the extensive requirements and testing that teachers have to go through to be qualified. Hiring qualified international teachers helps solve this problem.
DPS is currently on a hiring freeze until the budget and allocation of money for hiring positions are correct and modified.
Hayes works with three different organizations to hire international teachers. The organizations do their own interview process with teachers before presenting candidates to her.
She says there are a lot of barriers between international teachers and the opportunity to teach abroad; everything has to be taken into consideration.
“We try to consider religion, teaching them how to be patient, and finding them good communities to live in,” Hayes said.
UNIQUE CHALLENGES
While international teachers bring content expertise, experience, and qualifications, the job presents other challenges that local hires don’t face.
For example, moving thousands of miles away from home and family can leave them without a traditional network. And when emergencies happen back home, that distance can feel even more pronounced.
For example, on October 28, 2025, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica. It was the strongest hurricane recorded to hit the island. The impacts were devastating and affected Riverside’s Jamaican teachers.
Ansil Powell is a marine science and biology teacher from Clarendon, Jamaica. This is his first year teaching at Riverside.
Clarendon was severely affected by the hurricane. Due to power outages, Powell was not able to get in contact with his family back home for several days.
“It has had a negative impact on me, but I try to separate my personal life from my school life,” Powell said during a Pirates’ Hook interview last semester. “My students might ask ‘how is it back home?’ and ‘Is your family okay?’ and I’ll take those questions and thank them for asking, and then I’ll go back to the lesson, because that’s what I’m here for.”
The Global Teaching organization was offering support to teachers impacted by the hurricane with sessions for teachers to share their situations, feelings, and updates on family back home. RHS also lent support in times of crisis for these staff members.
Overall, the experience international teachers have had at Riverside has been extremely positive.
“I want to teach here forever, but it’s hard because our visa is temporary,” said Mejos.
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