Teacher on Road Trip With Daughter Unprepared for Assistant Superintendent's Warning
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A teacher who was on a cross-country road trip with their daughter was shocked when their school district's assistant superintendent called them with a warning.
The teacher and original poster (OP), user Disgruntled_Veteran, shared their story on Reddit, explaining that the assistant superintendent—a friend—had called to let them know "about three-quarters of all the [English Language Arts] teachers at the high schools resigned or non-renewed".
"A pretty high percentage," the OP noted. "We had a lot of 1st/2nd year teachers in ELA last year."
Stock image of an empty school classroom.
Stock image of an empty school classroom.
iStock
According to the OP's friend, the school district planned to have HR contact staff with English Language Arts (ELA) certifications and "convince" them to move to the high schools if enough candidates don't apply.
"And if they still can't fill the slots, to forcibly move teachers to the high schools," the OP continued.
"My friend wanted to give me a heads-up and let me know to avoid calls from the district office for a while. He knows I am happy with my position for next year.
"So I am going to be ghosting HR for the next 2 months. Ignoring calls and emails. Not that I wasn't going to already."
Reddit users were quick to share their thoughts, with many noting they were having similar issues at their schools.
"Our ELA resigned this year," one wrote. "They decided to start working at Costco because that's less stress."
"What are the odds that central office will be doing any introspection about WHY exactly this mass resignation happened?" another asked rhetorically, to which a third replied, "Is there a percentage less than zero?"
"Had a monstrous amount of teachers leave my FL district, me included," one Redditor noted.
'To each their own'
"Almost all of them were teachers who were tasked with the freshmen, who were probably the worst collective grade I've seen come through since I started post-COVID."
One user, however, felt differently: "After teaching [middle school] for 10 years, 2 years ago, I thought I'd try something different and started applying to [high school]," they wrote.
"I am now an ELA co-teacher and can't believe I waited. I'll take this any day over dealing with the [middle school] ridiculousness. But to each their own."
Teaching Troubles
In a message to Newsweek, the OP said there were a range of reasons why the ELA teachers left, but "several" left the career field for better pay and working conditions.
"What's most difficult about teaching right now is the politicians and the parents," the OP explained. "The politicians pretend to be pro-education, but they're really just about getting votes later on."
They continued, "The parents, for the most part, don't want to take responsibility for their children's actions. It's not their fault. Their kid acts out, and it's not their kid's fault. It's the fault of the teacher somehow."
'Work with less and produce more'
The OP added that it's important to know that the education system is "in a dark place right now" with COVID-19 funding gone.
"They're going to cut staffing positions," they wrote. "That means larger class sizes. In addition to this, educators are not getting the support they need to be effective. And educators are being replaced by unqualified individuals.
"Educators are being told to work with less and produce more. That's like asking a chef to go ahead and take a box of McDonald's leftovers and make a gourmet feast for a visiting head of state."
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