Reply to MCPS faces Teacher shortage next year

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Exit interviews are worthless in any industry.
The person leaving has no incentive to start fires when they are escaping the madness and the organization is defensive and can easily dismiss what is being said by painting the departing employee as bitter and disgruntled [/quote]

This is a fair point; however, I think teaching is fundamentally different compared to most professions. Many choose to become a teacher because they want to make a difference in the students they teach. Even those who are pushed to their limit and leave the profession early still care about their students and community, and they want to see the system improve. It is not uncommon for teachers to feel their role as a teacher is deeply intertwined with their identity. Most teachers I know would not recommend their own children to enter into the field - that’s certainty true in my case. I have questioned many times how much longer I can continue to stay on this hamster wheel and if I even want to continue my career as a teacher. I think many teachers who choose to leave do so after realizing they no longer have anything left to give of themselves. It would be helpful to have data on the specific reasons why teachers are leaving. Conflicts with admin? Frustration with curriculum? Student behaviors? Agro parents? Too much paperwork? Not enough support? Unrealistic expectations? Etc. Personally, I am burnt out - if I have a student who is reading three grade levels behind, and I get them to a point where they are just slightly behind, it’s still not good enough. Instead of celebrating the student’s individual accomplishments and personal growth, the student is still below grade level and therefore negates progress. We can’t control what goes on in a student’s life that may have contributed to the point of being so behind, we can’t control the curriculum we are forced to use, and we can’t control the fact that the student will likely experience summer slide because there is a shortage of summer school teachers. MCPS has an enormous budget and it is disheartening to see the amount of money wasted. At a minimum, why is it not a priority to allocate at least one full time permanent position substitute teacher to every MoCo school? Or doubling the number of support staff within each school? Teachers want to be part of the conversation about what’s working and what is NOT working, and proactively work towards developing potential solutions that will actually make a difference. [/quote]

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