List of teachers leave given for work done during vacation

List of leave given to teachers for work done during vacation

A national survey found more than a quarter of teachers say that the COVID-19 crisis has made them more likely to leave the profession.

SEATTLE — After months of teaching during a pandemic and the challenges that presents, some Seattle educators say they're concerned about a burnout crisis. 

Third-grade teacher Derek Grandbois says he's sometimes working 15-hour days and the logistics of teaching online curriculum requires significantly more time. 

"I'm saddened that that we haven't had a big conversation from the district about, okay, teachers, how are they doing, what needs to change," Grandbois said.

Grandbois says he and other teachers are also parents navigating their children's education while adjusting to the demands of the pandemic. 

A recent National Education Association survey found that 28% of educators say the pandemic has made them more likely to retire early or teachers leave the profession. 

One of the biggest challenges is finding substitute teachers leave to fill in for teachers who are absent or on medical leave. The demand is outpacing the supply, and the quality of those applying for substitute teacher positions is a concern in many school districts, the survey found.

There is some good news, though. The survey found that there is more interaction between teachers and students in districts using full-time remote learning than there was last spring.

And the survey had interesting findings about why teachers are avoiding discussions with students about President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about widespread voter fraud, one of the hottest topics in the news since President-elect Joe Biden won the election.

The survey was administered Nov. 18 and 19 to a nationally representative sample of 913 Pre-K-12 educators, including 298 district leaders, 190 principals, and 425 teachers.

The majority of school and district leaders say the number of teacher retirements and resignations in 2020 has remained unchanged since 2019.

However, increases in resignation rates do appear to be more common in districts offering a combination of remote and in-person instruction. Forty-three percent of administrators in these hybrid districts report an uptick in resignations and nonrenewals of contracts, compared with 26 percent in full-time in-person districts and 23 percent in districts where all the instruction is remote.