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Each year the National Committee for Latin and Greek (NCLG) sponsors National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week (NLTRW), which takes place during the week of March 5th this year. The APA has joined the American Classical League and numerous regional and state organizations in this effort to encourage all Classicists at all levels of instruction to take steps that will ensure that Latin, Greek, and Classics pre-college classrooms have the teachers they need. Thanks to the considerable public interest in Latin and the classical world, demand for Latin teachers at the primary and secondary levels has outrun supply, and there is now a serious shortage in many regions of the USA and Canada. Each year, for lack of teachers, existing programs are cancelled, thriving programs are told they cannot expand, and schools that want to add Latin are unable to do so.

On NCLG’s web site you will find strategies, flyers, and many other things that can help you to raise the issue with your students and answer their questions. The site also provides a mechanism to apply for small grants (up to $200) to fund special programs marking NLTRW. Examples of fundable ideas would include postage for a mailing, refreshments for a reception, travel funds for a speaker, supplies for a promotional activity, etc. The only requirement is that the funds be used in some significant and visible way to promote the recruitment of Latin teachers. Proposals for grants will be evaluated as they are received and competition remains open until funds are depleted. A brief report on the activity will be required after the event has taken place.