I’ve been sitting in interviews this summer to fill several positions within our school. Several other administrators have joined in to fill a number of vacancies across our district. I end up doing this summer after summer as many other administrators do. It’s the same cycle of come and go.
We keep losing educators. Some go on to different positions in different districts. And some exit the profession. Teachers discouraged replaced by those with excitement only to later become discouraged. There are many factors that play a part. Expectations. Demands. Support (or lack thereof). Behaviors (both students and parents). It’s a never ending loop.
There’s also a lack of candidates. Where I would once need to narrow my search of 500 applicants for a single position, now it’s hard to get 3 candidates to commit to a 20 minute interview for an open position. It’s slim pickings.
We are losing educators and losing because of it. Think of the hidden costs associated with a teacher leaving and trying to replace them.
The SECRET SAUCE is gone. That veteran teacher who left? They took years of unwritten knowledge with them—which students need extra grace, how to best communicate with certain families, how to really make that science unit pop, and who to call when the tech fails. That’s the school’s playbook, and it just walked out the door. Now everyone is scrambling without them.
Trust disappears. When a beloved teacher leaves, the community notices. The phone tree starts buzzing, and the questions fly: “What’s going on at that school? Is everything okay?” All that hard-won community trust? It can evaporate in an instant, leaving leadership playing defense.
Morale is gone too. Seeing a great teammate walk out is a gut punch for the whole staff. It makes everyone else look over their shoulder and wonder, “Why did they leave?” That feeling of being undervalued can be contagious and absolutely crushes school culture.
Hello burnout. That teacher’s work didn’t just disappear. Their committee duties, their club sponsorships, and their other responsibilities all get dumped onto those left behind. It’s a surefire recipe for turning passionate educators into overwhelmed, burned-out staff.
Kids pay. Who really gets hurt? A revolving classroom door means inconsistency, broken relationships, and lost learning time. For our kids who need stability the most, the impact isn’t just a number on a spreadsheet—it’s a massive setback. They lose someone who saw them, who understood them, who cared about them.
It’s hard to be the New Teacher. It’s incredibly difficult to drop the new teacher in and expect magic on day one. It takes a full year, maybe more, for them to learn the curriculum, build real relationships, and figure out the school culture. All that ramping up time is time when student learning isn’t firing on all cylinders.
So, we keep losing educators and losing because of it with no end in sight. Maybe it will turn around. But it’s going to take a big push from a large number of people. We need people who recognize that there’s a problem. We need champions at the teacher prep level. We need HR departments that innovate to find the people that no one else does. We need to support teachers so they can promote the positives of the profession.
We’ve all got to do our part because we can’t keep losing like this. It’s got to change at some point, right?
Rich
