Teachers retiring because of COVID

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

Have you started seeing teachers who are retiring because of all this (waving my arms in the air like Kermit the Frog)?

One of my favorite, most salty, most get-her-done teachers who has never been afraid of anything before (no parent, no admin, no bodily fluid) is in tears with me because she started her retirement paperwork today. Her partner is medically fragile and there's nothing to be done but this.

Some teachers just didn't come back this year and I honestly haven't noticed but this hit me hard.

[Glitternurse, LVN]

Students are not returning here until January. I haven't noticed any teachers retiring, but it could happen. I am sorry this has hit so hard. Hang in there sending virtual hugs

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

16 hours ago, ruby_jane said:

Have you started seeing teachers who are retiring because of all this (waving my arms in the air like Kermit the Frog)?

One of my favorite, most salty, most get-her-done teachers who has never been afraid of anything before (no parent, no admin, no bodily fluid) is in tears with me because she started her retirement paperwork today. Her partner is medically fragile and there's nothing to be done but this.

Some teachers just didn't come back this year and I honestly haven't noticed but this hit me hard.

I haven't, but my staff is pretty young. We don't actually many teachers at retirement age yet (charter that is old in the charter world, but young in the public school world).

But I have seen a HUGE uptick in leave requests. Many that are tied to some child care issues, some to FLMA where staff where some staff were required to be back in the school with our higher need students. Some leave options currently expire 12/31 (not sure if anything will get extended in my state there) and I'm not sure what happens after that. We also had to go full remote due to rising cases right now, but are hoping to transition back to having high need students in person again over the next 3-4 weeks (once I get our weekly testing program on site up and running). 

It is a rough year. And honestly, I think it will continue into the 21-22 school year as well. 

[SchoolNurseK, BSN, RN]

We have younger teachers as well, so no retirements.  One of our teachers did decide to switch to online teaching and it broke my heart.  This teacher was my first friend here at my school and it was hard to see him go, even though I knew it was a better fit for his little family.  

Our district just let 365 core subject teachers go last month due to budget issues.  It is such a terrible time for our kids to be loosing teachers.  They need stability.  I feel like education, at least in our area, is making a seismic shift and I don't think it is going to turn out well.  

So much has changed in teaching AND nursing through all of this.  It is getting more difficult and sometimes it feels like what we loved about our professions has become such a small percentage of what we do on a day to day basis.  I am sure these changes are even harder on a teacher/nurse that has been in it long enough to retire.  

 

[LikeTheDeadSea, MSN, RN]

There was  mass exodus of retirements and leaves around me.  Doesn't bode well for the sub shortage, but is nice for the younger teachers who have been waiting in the wings for contract spots to open up. 

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

Our custodian requested early retirement due to an ill family member, but he was eligible for retirement in October anyway. His original plan was to stick out the school year, but COVID accelerated things. I don't blame him. No teachers have retired, but there are several who have taken leave. I suspect one of our teachers was using it as an excuse to spend time looking for another job as she just sent out an email to us all saying she had accepted a position closer to home (while she was on leave). We weren't particularly upset about it, tbh.

[AdobeRN]

We have young staff - out of 75 staff members on my campus there are maybe 5 of us over the age of 50.  Problem we are having is that a good number of people from the sub pool are older, retired teachers; so we are having issues with sub coverage when teachers are out. 

[BrisketRN, BSN, RN]

We've had one teacher on medical leave, one teacher had a panic attack the first week of school and quit (taught virtually until a replacement was hired), and have had over half of our teaching assistant staff leave.  We've had a really difficult time finding teaching assistants for our preschool classes.  One TA was here for over 10 years and left in September because she didn't feel safe.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

quite a few retirements in my district.  I am not one of them... 12 and a half years to go for me

[HeyNurse MHR MSN RN]

It's not only teachers leaving/retiring, it's also school nurses retiring/leaving in bunches around these parts. 

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

16 minutes ago, HeyNurse MHR MSN RN said:

It's not only teachers leaving/retiring, it's also school nurses retiring/leaving in bunches around these parts. 

We had a new one quit because of....unreasonable expectations. As in, I didn't think I'd be manning a spreadsheet and doing contact tracing. I thought it was about band aids and ice...

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, ruby_jane said:

We had a new one quit because of....unreasonable expectations. As in, I didn't think I'd be manning a spreadsheet and doing contact tracing. I thought it was about band aids and ice...

This is why when folks are like "I'm looking at taking a school nursing job during a pandemic because it will be less stressful" I just laugh and laugh...