Anne Arundel public schools have experienced an exodus of teachers because of heavy workloads, officials said.
“If you look at the resignations, they?re up 170 teachers since 2000, and it hasn?t gone down since 2002,” said Tim Mennuti, president of theTeachers Association of Anne Arundel County.
The rise in resignations was part of a teacher recruitment and retention presentation by Florie Bozzella, the school system?s director of human resources, at a recent school board meeting.
Bozzella echoed Mennuti?s sentiments about the resignations of teachers, but added that the work force in general has a high turnover rate, especially within the first five years.
She said schools hire more teachers every year, so more teachers are expected to resign.
Mennuti said more teachers were leaving for stress-related illness because of challenging workloads.
So far this year, Mennuti said he knows of four certified and tenured high school English teachers who resigned. English teachers, he said, may teach 180 to 200 students a year.
“We?ve got to take a look at the student load and make some hard decisions about what constitutes teaching and administrative duties,” he said.
Teachers often take on additional duties, such as helping organizations outside of the classroom, he said.
“It?s always sad to see that teachers feel that they?re not getting the support or that their workload is too much,” said Anita Owens, president of the Anne Arundel County Council of PTAs.
“But it also probably has to do with all the requirements schools have to deal with from the state Department of Education and the federal government.”
Teachers face the burden of ensuring that their schools meet federal goals established under the No Child Left Behind Act, and must watch graduation rates and ensure their students pass the High School Assessment, she said.
