Why are teachers leaving?

At the end of the 2021 school year, around 30 teachers resigned throughout all of Hastings Public Schools. 

Now, in the middle of January and the start of a new semester, 27 teachers have said they will not be returning for the 2022-2023 school year. Teachers leave every year for a variety of reasons. However, in the last four years, there has been a trend of numerous teachers leaving Hastings Public Schools. Some teachers retire, take a gap year, or find another school to teach at.

“There’s a lot of conflict in the world. That conflict kind of drifts down and affects the schools. And that’s not why I’m retiring, but it seems like a good time to retire,” librarian Faye Friesen said.

Superintendent Jeff Schneider says that there has been more conflict in the past two years than at any other point in time.

“Majority of these people that walk in this school are kind, but we have examples, all around us of people not being kind to each other. There’s not enough compromise there’s just you’re wrong I’m right and there’s nothing in the middle,” said Schneider.

However, in most cases, teachers retire to do things they have always wanted.

“I’m going to spend time with my children and grandchildren. My wife and I are going on trips that we have always been wanting to go on,” teacher Roger Sunderman said.

Traveling and spending more time with family and friends is a common thing those retiring are looking forward to.

“I’m excited for traveling, seeing my kids more, I have grandchildren that live in Texas so it’s hard for me to see them, I’m looking forward to volunteering,” Friesen said.

The number of teachers leaving might also be higher than usual due to the incentive bonus given to those who resign in advance.

“What we did this year was we offered an incentive, if you know you’re leaving and tell us before Christmas, at the end of the year we’re going to give them an incentive of 500 dollars,” Schneider said.

Incentives help get a heads start on filling up teaching positions for the next year, however, what’s best is to maintain those positions occupied.

“A lot of people agree about what the problems are, and what good district policies are, but in individual buildings, there is a lot of disagreement about how those policies should be applied. So there is actually a lot of common ground, even though lots of times disagreement comes out in the details and execution.” German teacher Eric Garchow said.