Summer’s here.
Again.
When those campus gates swing back open this fall, one out of seven teachers won’t walk through them.
Not because they changed jobs necessarily, though many did. But because they just stopped. Left the profession entirely.
The data is loud.
And it’s scary.
You might assume that once the burnout sets in, educators drop their lesson plans and walk. Wrong. Most still love the kids. Most still care about the craft. They’re just exhausted.
And exhausted people leave when the pressure breaks.
Look at Wisconsin. Teachers there are walking out faster than in twenty-five years. Why? Bad leadership. Fear. Kids bringing guns to class. It’s not a puzzle, really.
Then you’ve got Portland.
Shrinking enrollment, swelling budgets, astronomical gaps that get plugged with staff cuts.
New teachers look at the ledger. Look at the clock. And start calculating.
Do you want to be here?
Do you have to be?
We need to know what tipped the scale for you.
What broke your spirit?
What could a principal or governor have done—anywhere along the way—to keep you in the classroom?
Your answer shapes how we talk about this mess.
Send it. We’ll listen.
