PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A new survey said more than half of American teachers are considering another line of work due to COVID-related burnout. However, while pandemic stress and staff shortages have placed a greater burden on teachers, Philadelphia schools superintendent William Hite said the district has not seen more resignations this year.
In any given year, the School District of Philadelphia retains about 90% of its teachers. According to the National Education Association, however, 55% of educators are pondering other careers.
But while he acknowledged compounded teacher stress because of COVID-19 protocols and staffing shortages, Hite said the district isn't projecting a spike in teachers heading for the exits.
"We actually have not seen the number of resignations that we would normally see during this period of time," Hite said Thursday at a virtual news briefing. "That's not to suggest that individuals are not thinking about it or not frustrated or anxious and may very well be contemplating that."
"That's not to suggest that individuals are not experiencing the anxiety, the anguish, associated with working through the last two years in this environment," said Hite, who is preparing a presentation on the status of staffing levels for the February 24 Board of Education meeting.
Read the complete survey results below.
Anxiety was evident in the voice of Lou Fantini, a history and English teacher at the Franklin Learning Center who said he often has to cover classrooms where teachers have called out or are quarantining.
"I think on average, I'm losing my preparatory period for coverages over twice a week at this point, which is all time that I would love to spend planning lessons and grading papers and making parent contact,” Fantini told KYW Newsradio.
"Because of the material conditions and the understaffing, we basically put teachers and pretty much all school staff into a situation where they need to decide which of their essential duties are not going to get done," he said.
"A typical day is, I get here. I have advisory. I teach a class. I get my lunch at 9 a.m., I get 30 minutes off. And then, if I have a coverage, I teach five classes in a row until 3:00,” Fantini described.
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He said students are affected when their regular teachers have resigned or are out for extended periods because of quarantine. "Students are like, 'Yeah, I cut classes sometimes,'" he recalled.
"I'm like, 'Well, why?' It's like, 'Well, I walk by the room and I see that my teacher's not there. So what's the difference? I'm not going to do anything anyway.'"
It's understandable, according to Fantini, that more teachers are considering resigning. "The amount of conversations I've had with people who are like, in that moment of professional crisis," he said, "they're like, 'Look, I love teaching my classes, but is the rest of this stuff worth it?'"
Fantini has been a Philadelphia School District teacher for six years. Is he considering leaving the profession?
"I don't know," he answered. "It's hard for me to imagine myself doing anything else because this is what I love to do. But I, like a lot of people, do feel like I'm just like at an unsustainable level right now."
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