It's going to get worse before it gets better
by Kelley Rosario, M.S.Ed.
Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. For decades teachers have been compensated with meager salaries. However, the pandemic revealed that they are not only underpaid, but also undervalued. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 44% percent of public schools reported teaching vacancies in the 2022-2023 school year; more than half are due to resignation.
The Problem
Above salary on the list of most fleeing teachers’ complaints is a lack of respect. There is less time to plan and grade, more meetings to attend, more phone calls to make, and more needs to meet. In other words, there are greater demands and less time to meet them. Teachers are seldom seen as human. Although I used to find it funny when my students were shocked to learn that I didn’t live at the school, the lack of humanity teachers are shown by our society is no laughing matter. I remember a conference in which a parent hurled obscenities at me because I “took too much time off” when my daughter went through a series of surgeries. The expectation is that our families be secondary to our students and their families or that we not have lives outside of the schoolhouse at all.
Another concern is a lack of resources. Students who returned to in-person learning after COVID-19 restrictions were loosened are exhibiting behaviors rarely seen in schools. There is more vandalism, violence, and defiance overall. As educators, we are expected to find the good in the misunderstood and assume that a child is dealing with trauma or other mental health issues as result of quarantine. However, there are fewer resources to deal with these behaviors and now also, less staff.
The Solution
Desperate times call for desperate measures and some districts are more desperate than others. Facing a shortage of more than 9,000 teachers in the summer approaching the 2022-20223 school year, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis solicited the help of veterans offering those with no teaching degree or certification to lead classrooms. These provisions will eventually present their own issues.
The intimidating truth is that the solution lies in the impossible: an overall mindset shift. We need to radically change the way our society views public schools and the teachers they employ. Many of the vital services schools are expected to provide for students should be the responsibility of state or local governments outside of the schools to prevent teacher burnout. We all love a feel-good, tear-jerking, tug-at-your-heartstrings story about a child whose life was saved by a teacher who went above and beyond, but that shouldn’t be the expectation. If we want more from our teachers, we need to give them more: more respect, more resources, more money.
How Can Greater Writing Help?
Learning deficits have increased exponentially over the past three years with Language Arts skills being an area in which the widest gaps exist. Greater Writing is a resource for teachers whose students are struggling with writing. We address those learning gaps after school so students can thrive in school, subsequently making instructional time less stressful and lightening teachers’ workloads. If your students need writing support, refer their parents to www.greaterwritingtutor.com. The impact we make in the lives our clients and their families can be felt in the classroom.
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