Teacher might quit

[Anonymous]

My DD's school had one teacher leave the 2nd week of school and another not come back from maternity leave. The one who left, they just distributed the kids across other classes (so now the classes are HUGE) and the other one they were able to find a long-term sub because the classes were already huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about quitting every few weeks but I am a single parent so I can't. It's been wonderful to be in person this year but the behaviors are just so out there. It is draining. We found out today that we are getting a half day on December 23rd and I felt such relief that I almost cried. Lots of teachers are on the edge.

Would you mind elaborating? I hear this a lot - that students are not well behaved this year and the class is hard to control. But why do you think that is? I know it probably has something to do with the stress of covid (sick family members, job loss, routine changes etc) but what do you think in particular is causing this? Also why is it that teachers all want to quit? Asking not to criticize but to see what we should be advocating for (I know better salaries of course but trying to understand what else). What about student behavior? What do students need for things to get better?

It's far beyond "not well behaved" and "hard to control". Listen, in my school we have a kindergarten room that has regularly needed 3-4 additional adults in the room because so many kids are displaying behaviors similar to what you might see in a psychiatric facility for children. I don't know what the hell happened when kids were home, but it wasn't anything good. Teachers want to quit it is emotionally and physically exhausting. Honestly, what students and schools need? No one will ever be willing to pay for.

Well many of these kids had both parents working outside the home and were entrusted to a MS or HS kid who has their own DL to do. And were plopped in front of a screen 7 hours a day. It’s like teachers don’t get that FCPS is 1/3 FARMS. They seem to believe every parent has a SAHM who could sit their with their kid and do school all day.

What happened at home? Parents were doing their jobs, dealing with multiple kids, dealing with elderly parents, cobbling together sunstandard childcare on a day to days basis, losing jobs, getting sick, being evicted….

+100

So were teachers who are also parents. Did you forget that part?

Teachers at least were working from home. What about families where both parents were working outside of the home? Not all of us were able to work from home last year, PP. We were lucky enough to have a responsible family member who took the year off of college to nanny and support our kids while they were DL but not everyone was so fortunate or has the money to pay for full time childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my child’s teacher might quit. Many signs but today my DD said that her teacher said that she can’t do this anymore. The class is out of control behaviorally.

It's incredibly unprofessional for a teacher to say that in front of her students. In my industry, someone who talked to their customers about quitting would be put on a PIP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my child’s teacher might quit. Many signs but today my DD said that her teacher said that she can’t do this anymore. The class is out of control behaviorally.

It's incredibly unprofessional for a teacher to say that in front of her students. In my industry, someone who talked to their customers about quitting would be put on a PIP.

This. Maybe you are dodging a bull et if this teacher quits OP. She is showing terrible judgment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my child’s teacher might quit. Many signs but today my DD said that her teacher said that she can’t do this anymore. The class is out of control behaviorally.

It's incredibly unprofessional for a teacher to say that in front of her students. In my industry, someone who talked to their customers about quitting would be put on a PIP.

This. Maybe you are dodging a bull et if this teacher quits OP. She is showing terrible judgment.

Then the OP will complain that her kid's class was split up and sent to another teacher who now has 30+ students to deal with. Or that they hired a sub who doesn't teach anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD's school had one teacher leave the 2nd week of school and another not come back from maternity leave. The one who left, they just distributed the kids across other classes (so now the classes are HUGE) and the other one they were able to find a long-term sub because the classes were already huge.

How big are the classes now? Ours are running about 25-26 per class (not terrible), but one teacher just took a leave of absence and I'm afraid she won't return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about quitting every few weeks but I am a single parent so I can't. It's been wonderful to be in person this year but the behaviors are just so out there. It is draining. We found out today that we are getting a half day on December 23rd and I felt such relief that I almost cried. Lots of teachers are on the edge.

Would you mind elaborating? I hear this a lot - that students are not well behaved this year and the class is hard to control. But why do you think that is? I know it probably has something to do with the stress of covid (sick family members, job loss, routine changes etc) but what do you think in particular is causing this? Also why is it that teachers all want to quit? Asking not to criticize but to see what we should be advocating for (I know better salaries of course but trying to understand what else). What about student behavior? What do students need for things to get better?

It's far beyond "not well behaved" and "hard to control". Listen, in my school we have a kindergarten room that has regularly needed 3-4 additional adults in the room because so many kids are displaying behaviors similar to what you might see in a psychiatric facility for children. I don't know what the hell happened when kids were home, but it wasn't anything good. Teachers want to quit it is emotionally and physically exhausting. Honestly, what students and schools need? No one will ever be willing to pay for.

Well many of these kids had both parents working outside the home and were entrusted to a MS or HS kid who has their own DL to do. And were plopped in front of a screen 7 hours a day. It’s like teachers don’t get that FCPS is 1/3 FARMS. They seem to believe every parent has a SAHM who could sit their with their kid and do school all day.

What happened at home? Parents were doing their jobs, dealing with multiple kids, dealing with elderly parents, cobbling together sunstandard childcare on a day to days basis, losing jobs, getting sick, being evicted….

+100

So were teachers who are also parents. Did you forget that part?

Teachers at least were working from home. What about families where both parents were working outside of the home? Not all of us were able to work from home last year, PP. We were lucky enough to have a responsible family member who took the year off of college to nanny and support our kids while they were DL but not everyone was so fortunate or has the money to pay for full time childcare.

Many of us weren’t. I am a private high school teacher and I worked in-person all last year. Both of my children were virtual, however, and I often had to check in with them on my phone between classes. My spouse tried to work nights as much as possible to limit our children being alone. Yet, with all of last year’s stress, I am quite comfortable saying this year is worse. That, hopefully, is a statement that explains how hard this year is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about quitting every few weeks but I am a single parent so I can't. It's been wonderful to be in person this year but the behaviors are just so out there. It is draining. We found out today that we are getting a half day on December 23rd and I felt such relief that I almost cried. Lots of teachers are on the edge.

Would you mind elaborating? I hear this a lot - that students are not well behaved this year and the class is hard to control. But why do you think that is? I know it probably has something to do with the stress of covid (sick family members, job loss, routine changes etc) but what do you think in particular is causing this? Also why is it that teachers all want to quit? Asking not to criticize but to see what we should be advocating for (I know better salaries of course but trying to understand what else). What about student behavior? What do students need for things to get better?

It's far beyond "not well behaved" and "hard to control". Listen, in my school we have a kindergarten room that has regularly needed 3-4 additional adults in the room because so many kids are displaying behaviors similar to what you might see in a psychiatric facility for children. I don't know what the hell happened when kids were home, but it wasn't anything good. Teachers want to quit it is emotionally and physically exhausting. Honestly, what students and schools need? No one will ever be willing to pay for.

Well many of these kids had both parents working outside the home and were entrusted to a MS or HS kid who has their own DL to do. And were plopped in front of a screen 7 hours a day. It’s like teachers don’t get that FCPS is 1/3 FARMS. They seem to believe every parent has a SAHM who could sit their with their kid and do school all day.

What happened at home? Parents were doing their jobs, dealing with multiple kids, dealing with elderly parents, cobbling together sunstandard childcare on a day to days basis, losing jobs, getting sick, being evicted….

+100

So were teachers who are also parents. Did you forget that part?

Teachers at least were working from home. What about families where both parents were working outside of the home? Not all of us were able to work from home last year, PP. We were lucky enough to have a responsible family member who took the year off of college to nanny and support our kids while they were DL but not everyone was so fortunate or has the money to pay for full time childcare.

Many of us weren’t. I am a private high school teacher and I worked in-person all last year. Both of my children were virtual, however, and I often had to check in with them on my phone between classes. My spouse tried to work nights as much as possible to limit our children being alone. Yet, with all of last year’s stress, I am quite comfortable saying this year is worse. That, hopefully, is a statement that explains how hard this year is.

Oh, you mean not all teachers had it easier than other parents? I don't think DCUM parents realize that not every teacher was at home. Not every teacher has a spouse to share responsibilities with.
Some teachers had/had it worse than the average DCUM poster.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher who had to come into school to teach virtually all last year. My kids (ages 11 and 9) were at home alone (I'm a single parent). Let's just say we set A LOT of different alarms to help them remember to log on to different classes, etc. Their teachers knew that they were home alone so they said they didn't really care when they turned in work. I would help them when I got home and they turned in all of their work. If they didn't turn it in during the week, I took them with me to my weekend job and they sat there and did the work there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about quitting every few weeks but I am a single parent so I can't. It's been wonderful to be in person this year but the behaviors are just so out there. It is draining. We found out today that we are getting a half day on December 23rd and I felt such relief that I almost cried. Lots of teachers are on the edge.

Would you mind elaborating? I hear this a lot - that students are not well behaved this year and the class is hard to control. But why do you think that is? I know it probably has something to do with the stress of covid (sick family members, job loss, routine changes etc) but what do you think in particular is causing this? Also why is it that teachers all want to quit? Asking not to criticize but to see what we should be advocating for (I know better salaries of course but trying to understand what else). What about student behavior? What do students need for things to get better?

It's far beyond "not well behaved" and "hard to control". Listen, in my school we have a kindergarten room that has regularly needed 3-4 additional adults in the room because so many kids are displaying behaviors similar to what you might see in a psychiatric facility for children. I don't know what the hell happened when kids were home, but it wasn't anything good. Teachers want to quit it is emotionally and physically exhausting. Honestly, what students and schools need? No one will ever be willing to pay for.

Well many of these kids had both parents working outside the home and were entrusted to a MS or HS kid who has their own DL to do. And were plopped in front of a screen 7 hours a day. It’s like teachers don’t get that FCPS is 1/3 FARMS. They seem to believe every parent has a SAHM who could sit their with their kid and do school all day.

What happened at home? Parents were doing their jobs, dealing with multiple kids, dealing with elderly parents, cobbling together sunstandard childcare on a day to days basis, losing jobs, getting sick, being evicted….

+100

So were teachers who are also parents. Did you forget that part?

Teachers at least were working from home. What about families where both parents were working outside of the home? Not all of us were able to work from home last year, PP. We were lucky enough to have a responsible family member who took the year off of college to nanny and support our kids while they were DL but not everyone was so fortunate or has the money to pay for full time childcare.

Many of us weren’t. I am a private high school teacher and I worked in-person all last year. Both of my children were virtual, however, and I often had to check in with them on my phone between classes. My spouse tried to work nights as much as possible to limit our children being alone. Yet, with all of last year’s stress, I am quite comfortable saying this year is worse. That, hopefully, is a statement that explains how hard this year is.

+1 Two teacher household and we went into our buildings to teach every day. We had the option and neither of us were going to stay home all day. We would have gone crazy not getting out and seeing other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD's school had one teacher leave the 2nd week of school and another not come back from maternity leave. The one who left, they just distributed the kids across other classes (so now the classes are HUGE) and the other one they were able to find a long-term sub because the classes were already huge.

I think I work at the school you are posting about. 😊

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about quitting every single day and don’t know if I’m returning next year. I keep going back because of the students. They are the easy part. The administration constantly undermines us and is making my job difficult to impossible. They are the reason it’s difficult for me to walk in the building every single day. I feel support from parents so I’m lucky there.

I am leaving after this year. I don’t go back every day because of the kids (or at least not all of them), I just can’t leave my team like that. We had other teacher leave mid-year and with no replacement the other teacher absorbed the class or they got a long-term sub - meaning more work for the other teachers.

This is the only reason I am trying to hold out until the end of thee year. My team is also down 2 members (HR teacher and Co Teacher) so everyone is struggling.

It isn’t your problem, though. If the administration doesn’t cover the class, parents should complain. They can easily reassign a coach or specials teacher. Covering classrooms should be the priority. It is NOT the responsibility of the teachers to manage and delegate work. If it is, then why do administrators exist and how do we justify taxpayers funding their high salaries?

They are already using resource teachers, ESOL teachers, coaches, reading specialists, etc to cover classes. It still isn't enough. I'm an ESOL teacher and I rarely teach my students more than twice a week. Ditto with the reading specialist. So parents complain that their below-grade-level students aren't getting pulled out. Great! By all means, complain about it but it won't help. There are not enough warm bodies to go around. They've already taken our student teachers away from us early this year. If they are graduating in December, they let them go in mid-November to get FT teaching jobs.

Get admin from Gatehouse off their butts and into classrooms for sub duty

[Anonymous]

Our sons Teacher took a leave of absence just before winter break last year, they were able to find a new Teacher who finished out the year. The Teacher was a recent college graduate. We got lucky and DS loved her. The last few years have been really, really hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our sons Teacher took a leave of absence just before winter break last year, they were able to find a new Teacher who finished out the year. The Teacher was a recent college graduate. We got lucky and DS loved her. The last few years have been really, really hard.

You got VERY lucky. I’ve been teaching for 15 years and have seen at least 20 people quit right before the school year or during the year. I think I’ve seen two good replacement hires out of those 20. Some were just a mix of subs all year, others were absolute disasters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about quitting every few weeks but I am a single parent so I can't. It's been wonderful to be in person this year but the behaviors are just so out there. It is draining. We found out today that we are getting a half day on December 23rd and I felt such relief that I almost cried. Lots of teachers are on the edge.

Would you mind elaborating? I hear this a lot - that students are not well behaved this year and the class is hard to control. But why do you think that is? I know it probably has something to do with the stress of covid (sick family members, job loss, routine changes etc) but what do you think in particular is causing this? Also why is it that teachers all want to quit? Asking not to criticize but to see what we should be advocating for (I know better salaries of course but trying to understand what else). What about student behavior? What do students need for things to get better?

It's far beyond "not well behaved" and "hard to control". Listen, in my school we have a kindergarten room that has regularly needed 3-4 additional adults in the room because so many kids are displaying behaviors similar to what you might see in a psychiatric facility for children. I don't know what the hell happened when kids were home, but it wasn't anything good. Teachers want to quit it is emotionally and physically exhausting. Honestly, what students and schools need? No one will ever be willing to pay for.

Well many of these kids had both parents working outside the home and were entrusted to a MS or HS kid who has their own DL to do. And were plopped in front of a screen 7 hours a day. It’s like teachers don’t get that FCPS is 1/3 FARMS. They seem to believe every parent has a SAHM who could sit their with their kid and do school all day.

What happened at home? Parents were doing their jobs, dealing with multiple kids, dealing with elderly parents, cobbling together sunstandard childcare on a day to days basis, losing jobs, getting sick, being evicted….

+100

So were teachers who are also parents. Did you forget that part?

Teachers at least were working from home. What about families where both parents were working outside of the home? Not all of us were able to work from home last year, PP. We were lucky enough to have a responsible family member who took the year off of college to nanny and support our kids while they were DL but not everyone was so fortunate or has the money to pay for full time childcare.

Many of us weren’t. I am a private high school teacher and I worked in-person all last year. Both of my children were virtual, however, and I often had to check in with them on my phone between classes. My spouse tried to work nights as much as possible to limit our children being alone. Yet, with all of last year’s stress, I am quite comfortable saying this year is worse. That, hopefully, is a statement that explains how hard this year is.

+1 Two teacher household and we went into our buildings to teach every day. We had the option and neither of us were going to stay home all day. We would have gone crazy not getting out and seeing other people.

1. That was a choice, not a requirement
2. If you made that choice and left kids home alone all day to DL when you didn’t have to, people would call you a crappy parent. And they would be right.