Will the last one out turn off the lights?

According to the Chairman of the Bilingual Department in my school, 27 of the district’s 34 bilingual teachers will be leaving, voluntarily or involuntarily, at the end of this year. That’s essentially 80% of the total. My district will probably be forced to hire any bilingual candidate who walks in the door this summer. Given that we are a lower-paying, understaffed, high-stress district, the odds that next year’s bilingual staff will be as good as this year’s staff are maybe better than that snowballs chance in hell, but I’d put my money on the snowball.

Eduhonesty: But did district administration do anything to keep their bilingual staff? If so, I sure missed those efforts. The Chairman and I laughed over our good fortune — her new job and my retirement. I still love my students. I still love teaching. But I am relieved to join the exodus. Administrative, testing, and data demands have become absurd.