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Can we talk about the real story behind the 'teacher shortage' headlines?
I mean, every news story just says there aren't enough teachers, full stop. But from inside my school in Columbus, the bigger story is why people are leaving. It's not just pay, idk. Last month, a teacher with 15 years quit because she was spending over $200 a month of her own money on basic supplies like paper and pencils for her kids. The district's budget for that stuff got cut to almost zero. On top of that, the new 'streamlined' curriculum they gave us takes about 3 hours of planning for every 1 hour of teaching. The headline makes it sound like a simple hiring problem, but the full story is about working conditions that push good people out. Maybe it's just me, but framing it as a shortage lets the system off the hook for not fixing the actual broken parts. Has anyone else in a school seen it play out like this, where the real issue gets buried?
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rodriguez.mia5mo ago
Oh man, you hit the nail on the head. My school in Phoenix is the same way. They keep adding more meetings and paperwork but took away our classroom aides, so we're just drowning. It's not a shortage, it's a leak they won't plug.
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green.iris4mo ago
My friend in Tucson said their school cut all art and music but kept six administrators.
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samrodriguez5mo ago
Yeah, I saw a report about that exact thing @rodriguez.mia.
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samrodriguez5mo ago
Wait, I gotta disagree. Honestly, I've seen a lot of new drivers quit because the pay just isn't worth the crazy hours. Sometimes the pipeline really is dry.
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