OHIO, USA — It’s only November and teachers are already feeling what they call “May tired.”
Just a few months in, it feels like it should be the end of the school year. The pandemic is taking a toll on educators and some are deciding to leave the profession.
“I had stress, anxiety, my mental health was decreasing rapidly, I would come home crying because I just didn’t know what to do,” said Samantha Schultz, who is a first-year special education teacher. “I wanted to help (the students), I wanted to help me, I wanted to help the school, but I just felt like I didn’t know what to do.”
Schultz always knew she wanted to become a teacher.
“Ever since I was a younger kid, I would play teacher," she said. "It was my thing to do.”
The back and forth between in-person and remote learning, some students not having access or even knowing how to use a computer, helping parents stay on track with the changes while keeping her students and herself safe, along with making sure students meet certain standards in spite of it, was too much.
“I felt like there were things lacking in certain areas that I can’t control," Schultz said. "It was hard to even take a day off of work because we didn’t really have a lot of subs and that’s when I was like, 'I don’t know if this is what I want to keep doing.'”
The Ohio Federation of Teachers is the union representing educators across the state, including some from a few districts in northwest Ohio.
President Melissa Cropper believes we will soon start seeing the long impacts of the stress put on the education system.
“There are people who are looking to actually physically get out of the profession, but there’s people who can’t get out," Cropper said. "But the stress load becomes so heavy that the quality of work may not be as high as it was before.”
According to State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, retirements were higher than projected during the past fiscal year. Leaders anticipated around 3,000 retirements throughout Ohio by June of 2021, but there were about 3,600.
The system doesn’t keep track of reasons for retirement, so WTOL 11 reached out to our Big 11 school districts.
Of those who responded, Perrysburg, Oregon and Anthony Wayne each had two teachers who listed the pandemic as a reason for retirement or resignation.
Bowling Green had two teachers who decided to retire now instead of work through the pandemic; Springfield had one.
Other districts, like Maumee, either didn’t have teachers who gave the pandemic as a specific reason or like Toledo, don’t collect data on why teachers leave.
Bedford and Findlay didn’t have anyone say the pandemic was the reason for retirement. Sylvania also didn’t have data on why teachers resign or retire.
Washington Local didn’t respond with details in time for this report.
“Our retirement numbers may not be up yet, but I’m concerned about how many teachers make it through this year, what impact there’s going to be next year and the following year,” explains Cropper.
Cropper admits the pandemic has also been tough on administrators, superintendents and school boards. She says districts are looking at how they can provide more days off during the school year for mental breaks as well as social and emotional support for educators.
After deciding not to go back to teaching, Shultz is now looking at what’s next.
“It’s important for everyone to understand that teachers are humans too, we are not robots, we also need help and we need some time to figure things out ourselves," she said.