who are current or former teachers to tell us about a situation at work that made them want to leave education forever. Their stories were all genuinely troubling, frightening, and heart-breaking. Teachers deserve better from students, parents, administrators, and lawmakers. Here's some of what was shared:"I went into labor six weeks early, and while in labor, my husband was fielding phone calls from many worried family members.
"I was told the student would be moving to the classroom setting they needed the following year. The student didn’t receive the placement they needed, so I was assigned this student again. That school year, the student destroyed classroom furniture , attacked four students multiple times, purposely urinated on the floor, and one day, they slammed me into the classroom door as we were leaving and wrapped their hands around my neck. It took two people to get the student off me.
"This 12 hours was an average, so for every day I could get out 'early' at 6:30 p.m., there'd be a day where I was working until 8:30 at night. I told the admin that certain classes were no longer allowed in my classroom, but they said I was not allowed to do that. When I stated examples of how students were completely out of control, I was told that 'an effective teacher would find a way.' I was told to 'be consistent' and use the existing discipline policies. An additional hour was spent each day making phone calls to parents, per the policy. Nothing happened.
"There were false harassment allegations against me after I asked a student to start on his assigned work. He wanted to get out of class and thought that that was the way to do it. I was threatened by a parent after giving their child a detention they genuinely deserved. I had my property stolen on several occasions. This is all on top of the regular swearing, throwing things, talking out of turn, and horrible comments that happened daily.