Anonymous wrote:I am the OP.

I am 22 years in. However, I took childcare leave after my first was born. In other words, I would have been able to retire.

Having said that, I'm now seeing a therapist for 1) extreme anxiety (this close to taking meds which I've NEVER done before) and 2) a game changer plan.

I cannot keep up with grading, as my classes are 30+ (high school), and I'm split between two dysfunctional teams who don't know the first thing about planning. I'm exhausted each night and the anxiety has become generalized.

Our school lost a fantastic new teacher, and one of my younger pals (three years in) is having second thoughts. My good pal broke contract mid-year to move out of state! When she was told that "MCPS would never hire" her again, she laughed and said she would NEVER return to teaching. Both her mental and physical health suffered. So what choice did she have? She LOVES her new life, btw.

So it takes guts to move on. I get it. But when my therapist asked me - "What exactly do you like about your job?" - I didn't have a solid answer. The kids not hooked to their phones came to mind but there are so few of them left. Most of my students appear dead inside - like zombies - which scares the sh*t out of me. No matter what I do to liven up a lesson - and I am a fantastic planner who knows kids (or so I thought) - many don't care.

So I no longer wish to be part of a dying system - of a dying field. Once more and more teachers leave - walk out the door after a few years in - the system will implode. I don't want to wait. I want to walk out, switch careers and find my happy spot.

cuz this ain't it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely reflects poorly on leadership. Any organization with this kind of turnover has issues.

Lack of autonomy. Lack of respect for teachers.

And MCPS is just too large of a school system.

It's not necessarily leadership. I'm in a high school that is well-run, teachers have a reasonable amount of autonomy, my colleagues are good and reasonable to work with, kids are generally nice, but still I put in 60+ hours per week just to keep up with grading and planning and the never-ending miscellaneous stuff (chasing down absent students, college recs, IEP & 504 meetings, clubs, etc.) Each year seems less satisfying than the previous year, and it's hard to figure out why. Honestly, I think part of the blame lies with the iPhone generation. Kids are soooooo hooked to their phones, and it isn't just that they are distracted by them or addicted to them, but that they have no motivation to be passionate about real-world things. Kids have fewer and fewer general skills and creativity and seem mostly like they are going through the motions of school without actually being interested in learning anything. It's really kind of depressing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely reflects poorly on leadership. Any organization with this kind of turnover has issues.

Lack of autonomy. Lack of respect for teachers.

And MCPS is just too large of a school system.

I would never work for a huge county public school system. I am aware they may pay make but smaller distracted with 10-30 total schools are much better able to serve the community effectively.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely reflects poorly on leadership. Any organization with this kind of turnover has issues.

Lack of autonomy. Lack of respect for teachers.

And MCPS is just too large of a school system.

I would never work for a huge county public school system. I am aware they may pay make but smaller distracted with 10-30 total schools are much better able to serve the community effectively.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is my fifth and final year. I only came back this year to make sure some of my seniors graduate. I came to this school their freshman year and moved up each year with them. Some don't have good relationships with their parents, and I made a deal with them that I'd come back one last year if they promised not to drop out. I love the relationship aspect of teaching. Three fourths of them could not care less about the stuff we teach them. Why should they? Most of it is just busy work from a bygone era. The only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is knowing that a lot of them don't have any other adult in their lives who care, and the day I call out might be the day when they really, really needed someone to talk to or talk them out of doing something dumb.

problem is . . . When you use up that much energy on your students, you have nothing left for your own kids.

My own son - 11 - said to me the other day, "If you quit this job, would you spend less time at your computer doing week?"

made me sad initially - But it was what I needed to hear to force me to look at other options. You have one chance to raise your own kids.

I really think that all depends on what job you have. There are plenty of other parents who are not teachers who spend a lot of time in front of their computers working. Think about the lawyers who spend 70 hours working + commuting.

I'm glad you understood work for week. lol

But that's my point. You get one chance to raise your kids, and it's not worth it. Sometimes I spend an extra 4 hours at home doing work - whether it's grading papers or planning b/c my own planning period was eaten up by something.

It's not worth it. Summers don't make up for it either, nor do holidays. It's not even; it's bipolar. I need an even lifestyle where I can feel good about what I do WHILE placing my first.

good for the lawyer making hundreds of thousands working 70+ hour weeks - If memories include how many hours Mom or Dad spent in front of the computer, is is worth it?

not in my book

So, what would you, as a profession?

Anonymous wrote:Definitely reflects poorly on leadership. Any organization with this kind of turnover has issues.

Lack of autonomy. Lack of respect for teachers.

And MCPS is just too large of a school system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am reminded of how school administrators treated teachers at our school during a bomb threat. Before the police could sweep the school, teachers were told to man the doors to make sure students did not enter the building. Where were the administrators? For those who were at school that day, they were safely supervising the students on the football field.

At that point I would have left with the kids.

Feel free to fire me. My life is more important.

I was assigned to the OSET team. It’s basically the school emergency team. In an emergency (any emergency), I have to stand at a door with glass windows with a walkie talkie and secure the perimeter of the building. I’m five feet tall. If it’s an emergency that impacts more than just our school, you’d better believe I’m hightailing it out of there to get to my kids. My principal, on the other hand, is supposed to stay in her interior office “in case an important call comes in”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am reminded of how school administrators treated teachers at our school during a bomb threat. Before the police could sweep the school, teachers were told to man the doors to make sure students did not enter the building. Where were the administrators? For those who were at school that day, they were safely supervising the students on the football field.

At that point I would have left with the kids.

Feel free to fire me. My life is more important.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you think about some of the posts from the last several weeks. Extreme behaviors have increased in the past 5 years. Teachers can barely control classrooms.

Many teachers are not given autonomy to control their classrooms as they seem necessary. Things escalate when the resource teachers and urger specialists make things worse by evacuating the class when unnecessary.

Anonymous wrote:If you think about some of the posts from the last several weeks. Extreme behaviors have increased in the past 5 years. Teachers can barely control classrooms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is my fifth and final year. I only came back this year to make sure some of my seniors graduate. I came to this school their freshman year and moved up each year with them. Some don't have good relationships with their parents, and I made a deal with them that I'd come back one last year if they promised not to drop out. I love the relationship aspect of teaching. Three fourths of them could not care less about the stuff we teach them. Why should they? Most of it is just busy work from a bygone era. The only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is knowing that a lot of them don't have any other adult in their lives who care, and the day I call out might be the day when they really, really needed someone to talk to or talk them out of doing something dumb.

problem is . . . When you use up that much energy on your students, you have nothing left for your own kids.

My own son - 11 - said to me the other day, "If you quit this job, would you spend less time at your computer doing week?"

made me sad initially - But it was what I needed to hear to force me to look at other options. You have one chance to raise your own kids.

I really think that all depends on what job you have. There are plenty of other parents who are not teachers who spend a lot of time in front of their computers working. Think about the lawyers who spend 70 hours working + commuting.

I'm glad you understood work for week. lol

But that's my point. You get one chance to raise your kids, and it's not worth it. Sometimes I spend an extra 4 hours at home doing work - whether it's grading papers or planning b/c my own planning period was eaten up by something.

It's not worth it. Summers don't make up for it either, nor do holidays. It's not even; it's bipolar. I need an even lifestyle where I can feel good about what I do WHILE placing my first.

good for the lawyer making hundreds of thousands working 70+ hour weeks - If memories include how many hours Mom or Dad spent in front of the computer, is is worth it?

not in my book