A lot of press has
been generated recently about the crisis we are now facing in
education, a teacher shortage. Blogger Peter Greene did a fantastic
job of breaking down the situation state-by-state in this
blog
post a few days ago. Greene noted, “But mostly we need a new
word, because we're not really talking about a shortage of teachers--
we're talking about a lack of incentives and an excess of
disincentives to go into teaching.” When you take a look at the
latest
report
produced by the USDOE the data shows that every state in the country
except for Pennsylvania has reported a teacher shortage for the
2015-2016 school year. Some states show the number of categorical
shortages to be higher than other, with Idaho seeming to need the
most types of teachers. What becomes apparent however, when looking
through the different lists from year to year is that the number of
teacher area shortages has risen from the 1990-1991 school year to
the current year. During the 1990-1991 school year the number of
categories of teachers needed ranged from zero to nine. Now the range
of shortages falls between zero and forty-three! What is also
noticeable is the types of teachers in the states that are reporting
shortages. In the early years of the report, the most seen categories
of teachers in need were special education teachers. Of course, there
are more categories of teachers today than there were in 1990. State
governments and certification programs have realized the profit that
can be made in creating more licensure needs in order to collect more
fees, but we are now seeing categories of shortages listed that
include our main subject areas, Mathematics, English/Language Arts,
Science, History, and Social Studies. These are concerning trends.
Ask any teacher why
they first got into teaching and you will get a varied list of
responses. But most of those responses tend to have similarities.
Some teachers will respond with something like this: “I have always
had a love of learning and knowledge.” These are the teachers that
find intrinsic value in having and understanding information. They
see the need to learn from history to make better decisions in the
future, the benefit of understanding different math processes to be
able to look at problems and use logic to solve them; they apply
various methods of the scientific hypothesis when researching. More
likely than not, they are the people that have a stack of three or
four books that are all currently in the process of being read, at
the same time. With that love of learning comes the deep rooted
desire to share that love with someone else.
Other teachers, we
think usually elementary teachers, will automatically respond with a
bright smile and say “Because I love kids!” These are the
teachers that you find in the middle of bright, cheery classrooms.
Rooms that have usually been set up over the summer and contain
wonderful organizational items with labels in all colors of the
rainbow. These are the teachers that are not afraid of messy hands
and joyful hugs. Many phone calls home, daily parent logs, holiday
decorations, stickers, stamps, cleaning wipes and plenty of soap are
all very familiar to these teachers. These are the children that are
there for the joy of childhood and are dedicated to preserving it.
Another group of
responses will sound something like this: “I know the value of a
good education and I believe I am responsible for providing that
opportunity to our future generations.” Often this type of teacher
can be found working within the community after school or on
weekends. Many times they will volunteer for food shelters, to
collect items for clothing drives, coach sports at the community
center, or become involved in a neighborhood cleanup event. There are
the teachers whose lives are deeply rooted in their communities and
understand the need to work towards strengthening the development of
a strong community to build a better future.
The teachers with a
sense of humor will answer “I wanted summers off!” This is done
in jest as those teachers think about the hours that are spent during
the summer lesson planning, attending conferences, completing online
courses, writing curriculum, searching online for lesson ideas and
coming up with new ideas to become better at what they do. These are
the teachers that maybe were not quite sure of what exactly they were
getting into, but because of a love of many aspects of the
profession, have stayed and made this into a career, and a life.
But the question
that is causing so many issues these days is when we ask “What
exactly makes a better teacher?” It is apparent that there are many
different viewpoints and the politics behind these viewpoints are
causing a lot of discord in the world of education.
So much discord in
fact that experienced teachers are leaving the profession, and new
teachers are not starting.
Why is it that
people with the above mentioned beliefs are abandoning education, a
career they dedicated their lives to? Where have all the teachers gone? Why are people that have dedicated their life to
education suddenly leaving the profession?
We asked people that
have left the profession to share why they have chosen to leave or
retire early. A lot of stories share similarities but there is one
underlying reason that seems to have caused the events that have led
up to this teacher exodus. The intrusion of political and personal
self interest in the education world. Instead of creating a
relationship where the trusted experts are sought out to find
solutions, a false belief of “We know what is best for education”
has been created by politicians, corporations, and individuals
interested in making a profit.
May people replied
to our question and reading through the answers, different types of
responses began to look similar. The main type of response could be
gathered together into a category that could be titled, “Where is
the joy of learning? Education reforms are not for children.” Other
responses included stories of unfair evaluations, administrative
bullying and not being treated like a professional. But it really
boils down to the fact that education reforms are NOT for the
children. Everything else that occurs as a conflict within schools is
a direct result of that fact.
The following is
a sampling of some of those stories. There is a lot to read through
but we felt it was important to have these stories told and found it
hard not to include any of them.
There are a lot
there. There are a lot that are not being told.
Education reforms
are not in the best interest of the students
After 20 years of
teaching a wonderful school, surrounded by amazing - life changing -
teachers, and coming to work with joy and enthusiasm most every day,
I watched my colleagues for the last few years, wither up, their
eyes became heavy and dark, many of our senior/master teachers quit
or retired early and lunch hours - if we got together at all - which
were usually full of idea sharing and laughter - were full of
conversations of concern for kids, confused at why our nation was
doing this to its future and frustration that the community at large
was allowing this to happen to their beloved schools. Fit, happy
people had gained weight - heavy stress weight, not the kind from a
few too many delicious meals - and the parking lot would empty the
minute our contracted time hit the hour, whereas before you would
find people in their classrooms usually an hour early and more often
than not, more than an hour later than contract time. For the first
time I started to think seriously about retirement, became angered
and frustrated when I realized that California will not let me
collect the social security I paid into outside of teaching, and then
I looked in the mirror and realized I looked and felt like all my
other colleagues, both older and younger than me. It was a wash of
sadness that came over me. I am counting the days (it will be years)
and praying for a miracle. Praying that the United States of America
will be taken back by the people and fight for privacy rights again,
fair and equal taxes and restore public education as a right and not
a commodity - removing the for profiteering component and giving it
back to the States, the communities and the teachers to do as we are
called to and qualified to do --- teach the future leaders,
innovators and care takers of the United States of America - land of
the free and home of the brave.
Retired early due to
the implementation of a scripted reading program. Thankful I left
when I did, because now they are using scripted math. Teachers from
first grade up are platooning and little kids are marching in the
halls from teacher to teacher throughout the day. My former
colleagues are counting the days until they can follow in my
footsteps.
I'm still hanging in
there. I will be starting my 44th year in another week. But many,
many of my friends have left the field recently. All are/were amazing
teachers. They just don't like what they are being forced to do
because of the damage they see. It's like teaching in a straight
jacket. Me? I'm doing what I can to make an "oasis of good"
in my classroom.
Teaching to the test
has ruined instruction.
No Child Left
Behind, testing and teaching to the test, terrible pacing plans, and
Open Court took my fun and creativity away and I became an
instructional robot. So I took very early retirement and now I
volunteer to cover classes when teachers at my local elementary
school have scheduled meetings. I really enjoy it without putting up
with what the teachers have to put with today. There is still a joy
at standing in front of a class, listening to the students read,
asking them questions, and occasionally when the teacher is gone
longer than expected using thinking games and improvisation to enrich
the students. Interacting with the students remains a great pleasure!
I
retired at age 60 after 37 years teaching because the stress of
dealing with the continuing budget cuts, the emphasis on testing not
children, the loss of support personnel, and the "reforms"
that were being instituted, led to physical problems, namely A-fib.
The lack of support for my class of 25, 12 of which were either
receiving psychological care or suffering from PTSD.
I retired this year
because I was beginning to feel more like a statistician than a
teacher. I've watched as we gave up recess, gave kids a shorter lunch
hour and had learning objectives pushed down a level. We treat kids
like short adults and not kids anymore. The stress was getting to me.
I have 3 years left
before the earliest date I can retire and at this point, am planning
to do that. I originally planned to work another 8 years and retire
when my husband does. I started teaching because I wanted to do
something that made a difference. The increased emphasis on testing,
which frequently labels my EL students as failures, is driving me
out. My conscience bothers me when I have to participate in the test
and punish system.
I retired before I
was ready to leave the profession I love because the mandates pushed
on teachers made it impossible to have joy and relationships in the
classroom.
39 years as a
primary teacher; kindergarten for most of it. Wanted to go to 40, but
the last year I began to despise some of the practices in
kindergarten, such as overloading class sizes, declassifying
classified preschoolers, no classroom aides, hoop jumping and
mindless paperwork to get services for students, lack of regard to
the developmental needs of 5 year olds, reduced support staff, and
complete lack of respect to veteran master teachers by those in
power. I had a child who bullied, hurt others, disrupted instruction,
lied, manipulated administration and after a Sept-December of his
nonsense and the district's lack of action, I decided to retire at
the end of the school year. Then, 28 days later is was injured by the
very same student while trying to protect other students from his
abuse. Completely torn rotator cuff, and now 32 months after that,
I'm still under care. My last year should have been an amazing
celebration of an exemplary career.
I just retired at 55
years old after 33 years of teaching elementary school in Virginia. I
love teaching; in fact, I'm quite passionate about it. Children have
changed over the years with different social trends coming and going,
but in the end, they are still innocent children who need a teacher
who cares. What's happening in my state is runaway assessment and
data driven madness. I would still be teaching if not for the
administrative insanity. What gets me is that the state mandates
end-of-year-tests for grades 3-5, but the locality encourages the use
of online assessments so that the students "get used to"
the online assessment format. IN a survey our local education
association completed in 2013, elementary teachers reported an
average of 52 complete six hour instructional days devoted to all
forms of state and local assessments (state online tests, local
mandates online assessments, local "encouraged" teacher
online assessments, State mandated individual reading readiness
assessments-PALs, and local reading comprehension individual
assessments-F&P). That's 29% of the entire school year! Local and
state administration are blind to this data, although they are SLOWLY
gaining new sight. I couldn't stand to be a part of this abuse of
children any longer and figured I'd be better able to fight it
outside the system
In the 15 years I've
been a teacher, the curriculum has narrowed to what's going to be
tested, to the detriment of student writing and critical thinking
skills. I've seen a push for one size fits all while I am supposed to
be differentiating and individualizing. I've watched as Teaching has
morphed into Monitoring student progress on a canned, on-line
curriculum program so that my role is simply creating spreadsheets. I
foresee what you and I called 11th and 12th grade being moved into
the community colleges, as we bring back a very limited kind of
vocational "career and technical education."
I retired this past
June the very minute I was eligible at age 61 after 25 years in an
inner city district. I am National Board Certified and was a teacher
of the year in my content area. I had the challenge and satisfaction
of living my dream job for almost 20 of those 25 years- worked within
a wonderful, collaborative team, wrote curriculum, helped form a
standout program, held school based leadership positions, and was
privileged to teach many incredible, talented students. What a
difference 5 years made! Steady inevitable erosion of autonomy, the
dismantling of the signature program by a Broad-trained
superintendent, the relentless questioning of our professionalism,
the disturbing realization that the first year the evaluations
counted, I would be thereafter be scrutinized by admins who were
themselves incompetent at their own jobs, let alone familiar with
mine....all played a role in the decision. I leave behind amazing,
supportive, dedicated colleagues and wonderful students and hopefully
a positive impact through years of cooperative teaching with many
student teachers. I am sorry that many of the new teachers I mentored
may never know the joy and satisfaction of working with stellar
principals and veteran and new colleagues to craft impactful programs
that actually serve the needs of our students and communities. I am
moving on to continue and expand my own creative work in the arts.
I am planning on
retiring early in 2 years. Public education stopped being public
years ago with NCLB and then RttT. Public Education is in the hands
of non-educators, hedge fund managers, and bean counters. The amounts
of wasted work teachers have to do, and the endless hours of student
testing, only support corporate bottom lines, not the furthering of
learning.
Huge narrowing of
the curriculum at primary school. Children being expected to achieve
levels they were not cognitively capable of and no focus on
discovering what they WERE good at and working outwards from there.
SATS (Standard assessment tests) in year six where in many schools
the curriculum becomes wholly focused on teaching to the test and
anything outside is forgotten and irrelevant. Little sport and
sometimes no music whatsoever; tokenistic History and Geography and
huge over emphasis on a narrow prescription of English and Math.
Parents being told that "levels" were all important whereas
in reality they are barely relevant. Knowing the difference between
our State and private sector and the continual feeling that parents
were not being told the truth about what really matters in Education.
Disproportionate amount of paperwork to the extent that I was working
all Sunday and missing out on my own young child. Her Dad had to take
her out. Above all the feeling that one could no longer express a
variety of different views. There was only one right answer.
Everything had to be standardized. We even had one Head teacher who
made us take all our labels off drawers and equipment and re do them
in exactly the same font. And whilst I never failed to teach a single
child to read I was expected to follow political rather than
Educational theories and my own knowledge of what worked and didn't
work. Reading demands phonics AND sight vocabulary. Sometimes I
wasn't allowed to use one or the other because the political thinking
in terms of what was right had changed. In a nutshell I was no longer
allowed to be myself. I taught for close to thirty years but
ultimately I just hit the end of the road. It began to feel like a
mug's game and I wanted my life back.
I will retire
earlier than I planned to because of testing and evaluation scenarios
run by idiots who think that every teacher having the same thing on
the board in the same place is what denotes good teaching.
I retired early
because I couldn't look myself in the mirror everyday knowing that
what I was being asked to do wasn't developmentally appropriate for
the students in my class. Until BATS came along I didn't think anyone
was ever going to challenge the administrations and politicians who
were promoting all of this testing and teaching methods that are so
wrong for all children. Even though it's too late for me I hope the
trend that the BATS started continues until teachers are heard and
changes are made.
I am too young to
retire but could not stay due to moral issues with teaching to the
tests and a complete disgust with administration and their handling
of student data & discipline. Elementary schools are not for
children anymore and I refuse to be a part of this abusive system.
I left because I
believed what I was asked to do was educational malpractice. I taught
first grade and the direction our literacy instruction was taking was
not best practice and getting worse.
I retired in June of
2015 after 24 years in Texas public schools. I specialized in
teaching struggling readers, and all of my students made progress in
their reading skills, until last year. Because my students--who all
had either SpEd designations or 504 plans--had to take the same STAAR
test that everybody else did, people who were not teachers determined
that the specialized instruction they had been receiving wouldn't
prepare them, that they needed to be "exposed to all the
standards" in regular classrooms "with co-teach support."
My very individual students, with documented special needs, were
forced to have their instruction along with everybody else, at the
same rate, & to the same depth. At the end of the year, none of
my students had made progress, and some had several tests showing
loss of previous gains. Ten teachers on our campus were not rehired,
another 6 transferred to other campuses or changed districts, and 3
of us retired. I couldn't continue to participate in the data/testing
nonsense that was harming children. The stress was also taking a toll
on my health, with chronic pain and gastric issues bothering me every
day. I was fortunate that my age & years of service allowed me to
retire with full benefits, but I sure wish I could've continued to
teach the way my students needed me to.
First of all let me
say I LOVE teaching, but HATE being a teacher. Unfortunately, I have
11 years before I can retire. I don't know if I can make it that
long. I love the kids, but it seems their needs have increased over
the years and I can't meet all their varied needs. The student needs
have increased and the support staff has decreased. This paired with
the increase in teacher responsibilities, constant testing, reduced
resources, increased demands due to teacher evaluations, expectations
that teachers must volunteer time or are marked down, etc. serves to
create a extremely stressful work environment. More teachers are
getting sick due to this increase in stress level. I use to be
excited to go to school every day, but now it is difficult to even
look forward to going to work. My dream has turned into a job.
I LOVE being a
teacher and was at my best when I realized I could no longer be part
of this inappropriate form of educating kindergarteners. I was a
worksheet-free, developmentally aligned, theme based teacher. Then I
was told to "follow the manual/workshop model with fidelity
regardless of children's attention and physical needs." I refuse
to turn children off to learning. My husband was incredibly
supportive. After I submitted my resignation letter I testified on a
legislative bill focused on parents being able to opt their children
out of standardized testing. It was a highlight of that last
bittersweet year. NCLB and narrow minded administration played a
part. I do not regret being vocal for "my kids". My
students were like family and each one mattered.
I went back to
school to get my credential after 15 years in the "real
world"--I LOVED teaching my 7th graders literature and writing
and social studies. I taught for 24 years, and loved what I did (even
though there were more and more restraints on how and what I could
teach) for about 20 of them. Then we got a new principal, and a new
policy, and yet another "silver bullet" teaching style. For
those who know it, it's called EDI (Explicit Direct Instruction). For
those who don't, it's a robotic form of teaching where all students
are assumed to learn at the same rate with the same form of delivery.
Need I say more? And since THE TEST was the only important goal, we
were informed that we 1) should only use short excerpts of works when
writing our scripts (yes--to add insult to injury, we needed to WRITE
THE BLOODY LESSONS USING THEIR TEMPLATES!); 2) not "waste time"
after the state writing test by teaching writing anymore; and 3)
since I was an experienced teachers, I should have only the difficult
students, because after all the new teachers needed the advanced
students to learn how to teach on. Keep in mind, I had been
department head for the previous 10 years. The final straw? When a
student cussed me out and I was asked what I had done to "make
him do that." (Uh...told him he needed to get to work?)
Basically, I no longer was allowed to teach the kids. I had to teach
the curriculum that was laid on us by people who had NEVER TAUGHT.
That includes the principal. And said principal did not back his
teachers in any way, shape, or form--if there was a student/teacher
problem, it was ALWAYS the teacher's fault. Add to that the district
wide push to eliminate homework. Just too many strikes against us. I
retired.
I left in January
after 38 years of teaching. I could have gone on and done more, but I
couldn't stand to see what CCSS was doing to schools. All the joy has
been drained out of the typical school day in favor of test prep.
When kids are only as valuable as their last test scores, that’s
when I go. Also, I had health issues. But I would have continued
working with the health issues.
I am not trusted
as a professional
*I taught high
school English and journalism for 27 years. First they controlled and
destroyed my journalism program, then they controlled and destroyed
what I could teach in English.
The last straw for
me was when my principal did not think teaching entire books was a
good use of our time, and that we should just teach excerpts (like
are on the tests) instead. He told me my very successful independent
reading program was a waste of time.
Retired June 2014
after 24 years as a Rd. Spec. previously 14 years as an early
childhood educator. I loved the people I worked with, the kids and
families I worked for, but hated that I was not valued for my
expertise in reading, but was being handed explicit instruction as
THE script to follow. (Downgraded with deviations) I spoke my mind,
but it was not appreciated although some 'off the record' agreed with
me. Edited to add: That is why I remain active in BATS and continue
to represent public education everywhere I can. I have my
representatives on my frequent contact list.
I too am fortunate
that I have the years and the age to retire with a full pension. I
would like to continue until age 66, which would be 5 more years, but
there are an increasing number of times where I resent the demands on
my personal time so I feel I am not recharging my own batteries. I
feel that the district has imposed so much control in the name of
"consistency' and "standardization", that our voices
as professionals are being silenced.
When our ability to
affect change in our classrooms became less important than test
scores and answering to admins who had little control over their
jobs, as professional educators we left.
If I may speak for a
colleague who just retired and is not a BAT... We teach at a 7th-12th
grade school.
He would have been
starting his 40th year of teaching. Our admin gave him (and me, but
that's another story) a "demotion" of sorts by handing off
upper-level courses to young, inexperienced teachers while giving him
2 seventh-grade classes. He has never taught middle school in his 39
years. That was the icing on the cake for him. Topped off the gradual
erosion of autonomy and the rise of "data-based-decision
making".
I completed my
masters through a joint program between my university and our school
district in curriculum and instruction (reading) in 2012. My fellow
teammates and I were treated at our school like we didn't know
anything about teaching. We felt we were being targeted because of
our age (I was in my early 50s). I was working in an extremely low
income school. The union helped 2 out of 3 of us get out of the
school. I went to a school in which I was happier, but was bumped to
another school at 10 count. I was given a tough group at the new
school, but I could handle them. The following year, I was placed in
a pre-K general ed./ESE blended class. I wasn't trained for ESE or
writing IEPs. I can't believe the way I was treated that year. There
had been quite a few tears that year and the past 10. Between all the
hoops that we had to jump through for a positive evaluation, the lack
of support from yet another principal, and the promise that the next
year, I would have less assistance in the classroom and more children
with IEPs, I finally decided (at the urging of my entire family), to
leave/retire 7 years early. These reasons are just the final straws.
The system is broken.
I would if I could.
Sick of being disrespected, told how to teach, what to teach, when to
teach, what strategies to use for a discipline that only those of us
educated in it actually understand. Disgusted and dismayed that
teachers have been pillaged & plundered out of our traditional
role as the "keepers of the flame" and reduced to mere
facilitators (which is really just another way of saying underpaid
babysitters). Tired of being treated as an insignificant employee
when they expect us to put in professional hours and maintain a
professional persona without requisite professional salary.
Teacher
bullying/Evaluation methods that undermine/Loss of job security
I worked in an early
roll-out district which started using VAM/CCSS before many districts
did, in fall of 2012...i was forced to retire early when my excellent
evals of 28 years became failing evals...and also because district
eliminated all librarians, two weeks before school ended, and would
not let me apply for classroom positions...I had no choice i could
find (this was like six weeks before BATs) so I had to retire early
and lose most of my pension benefits
I have had it on my
radar for three years now - can't afford to, or I would. STRESS!!
This is a much more stress-loaded profession than it was my first
year teaching in 1987 with a very low group of kids, a textbook
adoption with another first year teacher, and a brand new school
building with $100,000 worth of error retrofits! If any of the past 3
years would have been my first or second, I'd be long gone. The only
reason I'm still in is that I got a specialist position, so I have no
grading, no parent conferences, and no state testing, so I can JUST
concentrate on curriculum. (And meetings....) (And after 4 pink
slips, 2 years in temp positions, 4 school changes, and now 2 more
room changes just this summer... to think back that I chose this
profession for the JOB SECURITY??!!)
20 years with one
county and then switched last year to another school division, which
made me a probationary teacher. I got pushed out by a bully
principal, who pushed out all the probationary teachers. I had to
resign for the end of the year with 21 years of teaching. The
division did nothing to stop the harassment. Finally the principal
resigned in May, but the division wouldn't undo the damage that she
caused. 45 teachers left the school for new jobs, or they were pushed
out. So, after 21 years in teaching, I'm not mentally ready to go
back into a full time teaching job at this point, even though I love
teaching. I might be later, but for now, I am exploring all options.
I can't go through another year of stress like last year, I have to
take care of myself and my family.
I would have worked
four more years to make 40 but I became anxious about teachers always
being blamed for everything that went wrong. I got tired of the
negative atmosphere that was developing. I retired in 2008 with 36
years of service.
I left the classroom
after 22.5 years. I will still be a teacher but in a different non
teaching role. I did it because I could no longer take the nonsense
of administration bullying teachers, of the pressures of testing
where I was not allowed to stay in the same room with my students
during the test, the inability to hold back a student who lacked the
skills to move on and the fear administration had to discipline
students or deal with parents.
I resigned last year
in April without being much choice. I knew on the first day of school
when I met the new AP that I would not last. She was all over
me...nothing I did was right. The excuse was that I came back from a
leave and "everything is now different." I was observed
more times than I can count and most of the time it was with 6
admins. My reviews were all ineffective. The reasons were untrue and
some were flat out made up. The UFT chapter leader was notified of
what was going on in October and he did nothing. Neither did the guy
above him and above that guy. When I started getting written up daily
I knew it was time to leave. The expectation was that I finish out
the year and not return but I wasn't going to keep returning daily to
a place that treated another human like this. The principal didn't
hide her happiness and actually did a happy dance. The parents were
furious...the principal has a reputation for doing this and they
knew. Some called some protested a little but the school maintains
that I left on my own and they don't know why. I did hear rumors that
I was fired. I walked out of that building that I starlet in in 16
years ago and never looked back. Not one goodbye from anyone and not
one person reached out to me since. Yes, they knew what was going on.
Sad times.
I left teaching
because of unfair teacher evaluation and lack of administration
support. At one point my administrator came into my room and sat with
my class of middle schoolers. The boys started to use foul language
which I DID NOT HEAR but which she, the administrator who was
evaluating me, did hear. She did nothing but let the boys spew the
"f" bomb freely. Mind you I was teaching a lesson in poetry
and the use of language. When I was close to those students they were
respectful and on task but when I moved away to assist other students
they used inappropriate language with her tacit approval; i.e. she
was the principal, she heard them swearing, she said nothing,
therefore it was okay. Then when I was evaluated the administrator
noted that I had no control in the classroom using this example. I
was flabbergasted. Talk about non-support. Even a raised eyebrow
would have stopped those kids but to do nothing was just
unbelievable. I found this kind of nonsupport and undermining to be
harder and harder to deal with. Discipline means everyone does what
is best for students, teachers and administrators. How did she gain
any advantage by undermining my class in this manner/ Needless to say
I struggled for the rest of the year to keep that particular set of
boys in check. After I quit I was told the District was trying to get
rid of older teachers because their higher wages. I was 62 years old.
I had planned to teacher for another 8 years but not under those
kinds of conditions.
I left teaching
middle school special ed after 20 years in June. For the past two
years, I was bullied by my principal and head of special ed. Between
that and testing issues- giving life skills kids their age level
tests, for one thing- I had to leave. I was very close to a nervous
breakdown in April. I will miss the students, but now I can focus on
my own children. No regrets.
When you are the
union representative to your staff, and you have to take on the
constant reform issues centered around contract violations, you
become the target for dismissal. Although I survived probation due to
a cranky email from my administrator the harassment continued. I was
administratively moved five days before the new school year, had two
interim principals who brought their supervisor to each of my
observations, and post observations, and was rated 'Basic' by one
point. (It took a lot of work on their part to find imaginary reasons
for that rating.) My health suffered because of the stress. Anxiety
attacks happened daily when I was on probation. The climate in which
we teach is the climate in which our students learn. The district
owes about a decade worth of my classes a redo with me. As a retired
teacher I have been able to volunteer as a public school advocate.
What a joy to still work for the benefit of students and colleagues.
I left teaching after 8 years total private and public. There was
entirely too much bullying and harassment. During my husband’s
illness and death last year I was treated horribly. Harassed while he
was in ICU about IEPS by my supervisor and treated unfairly by
administration. I loved the children, but couldn't take the adults.
As seen in the
testimonials we have gathered, teachers are leaving for a variety of
reasons. The reasons have nothing to do with just plain old retiring
but have more to do with the current climate generated by corporate
education reform. Renowned and award winning New York Principal
Carol Burris stated in a current
piece
for the Network for Public Education Foundation:
“If we are to turn
this trend around, we need to act now to not only stop the attacks on
teachers and tenure, but to stop evaluation systems designed to fire
teachers based on metrics that no one understands. And we cannot
forget that pay and working conditions matter. It should also come as
no surprise that in states that pay teachers relatively well like New
York State, the shortage does not yet exist. Even so, enrollment in
teacher preparation programs in the Empire State dropped 22% in two
years time. Many factors are contributing to the decline.
It is time for
policymakers to step back and chart a different course. It makes no
sense to cling to failed reforms. As school begins, students across
the country are paying a hefty price.
How ironic it would
be if the reforms based on the belief that three great teachers in a
row are the key to the student success, result in students not having
certified teachers at all.”
It is time to ask
some very hard questions. But perhaps the hardest one we will have to
answer will come from the children, and they will ask, “Where have
all the teachers gone? Why are people that have dedicated their life
to education suddenly leaving the profession?”
What will our
answers be?
