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Teacher Retention

On Friday, the district released the seniority list. For a small district, it’s not much of a document so we all get to see everyone’s information.

See Me After Class has a resource post about retention in urban schools. We all know it’s not good. Teachers leave in droves every year, taking what little training they had and all of their enthusiasm with them. And then there is my school.

After 6 years of teaching in the same district I am in the exact same place I was four years go. After I completed my provisional contract. As an added bonus, when the newest teacher in my school completes her provisional contract (should she actually do that – there are already rumors of lay-offs. A story for another day.), I will be below her. Seniority sucks sometimes.

What is the difference between the schools? Ok, we have relatively easy access to a copy machine and toilet paper/bathroom, but having taught in a NYC middle school there isn’t that much difference. The students are students in generational poverty, dysfunctional families and limited knowledge of the outside of the world. They are apathetic and unmotivated. A significant number will not graduate. We have limited funding, constant nitpicky missive sent down from up on high and so on. And yet, there is a guy who is in his 50th year of teaching… the oldest member of my department had him as a teacher in middle school. The As*hat from the previous post? 40 years.

The only thing I can figure out as a difference is the cost of living. Because our salaries are set by the state and are basically the same across the state, I make a sad Seattle salary in one of the most economically depressed regions of the state. I’m living pretty high on the hog on a salary that would have me sitting in a studio in Flushing if I lived in NYC. That gets old after a few years. The salary isn’t the key, it’s the quality of life. Idealism can only last so long, but when you can no longer afford a bottle to drown your sorrows, a cube farm starts to look nice.

Maybe instead of salary increases, these districts/cities should think about financing some nice housing for the teachers or something to increase the quality of life. All work and no play makes the teacher ditch the classroom.

Meanwhile, I’ll be sitting at the bottom of the pile and waiting for the ax to fall.

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Anonymous said…
Those who possess the power to address the problem obviously don't suffer from its effects.
3:43 AM
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