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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's not an unpopular opinion, nobody wants their kid's teacher to quit mid year.  However, when I worked in education I knew two teachers personally who literally lost their minds and disappeared mid year because of it.  Not only were the parents not informed the reason why they were gone but their own teaching teams didn't get the details from admin.  They might have known if they knew her well enough personally but that's the only way.  It's confidential personnel information.

If they just quit for some random stupid reason you don't want that person teaching your kid anyway.

I also know of a guy who quit with zero notice because of the way he was being treated by admin and the school division, it was absolutely untenable and he was right to leave.

As others have said a teacher can really screw themselves professionally if they do that so if they do it anyway you should assume it was a pretty serious situation for them to take such a drastic step. [/quote]

Not the OP, but thank you for this rational response. Any time a parent on DCUM makes a complaint like this, they get bashed. However, it's a really big deal for kids when a teacher quits mid-year, and it shouldn't be something that happens often.

It happened to two of my kids, and both times, I knew the reason for the teacher leaving. They honestly had no other choice. However, the dynamic of education, where parents are supposed to be partners with the school and the teachers in educating their child, is undermined when teachers leave without explanation mid-year. Teaching really isn't like any other profession. Parents help teachers out in the classroom at school, send in supplies, have special appreciation events, but then are shut out completely from knowing anything about extended absences or abrupt departures. I understand these things are confidential, but it's a tough pill to swallow. In fact, it feels like a slap in the face. If confidentiality prohibits saying anything, then the departure could be for something trivial. There is no way of knowing. And kids, especially younger kids, which mine were when their teacher left during winter break, tend to feel abandoned and even responsible.

I continue to believe that the system needs much more built in backup for teachers. There are always going to be illnesses, personal or family needs, or other events that cause extended absence or even leaving mid-year. Maybe if there was more backup available, fewer teachers would have to leave abruptly.

I agree with all you said and appreciate your kind words about my comment.  One of the teachers I know who left due to losing her mind was driven to insanity by the situation the school put her in and eventually just literally lost it.  Lots of parents had a clue about that situation but admin certainly wasn't sending out memos about it.  The other one had serious mental issues due to events in her personal life so you can imagine nobody was informing anybody about that.  If that happened to me or you we wouldn't want anyone to be told our personal issues either, right?

As far as having backup, my experience has been that it's long been extremely difficult to find competent willing subs and that is clearly worse since covid.  The attitude of many parents on DCUM and elsewhere towards teachers has made this situation much worse.  Nobody wants to be disparaged, criticized, blamed and totally underappreciated by many people largely due to circumstances beyond their control.  Whether parents agree or disagree with that, the reality is many teachers have left the profession or become very disenchanted with the teaching profession as a result.  This problem is not getting better either, it's getting worse.  I don't know the answer.
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