President's Viewpoint
Teacher Care and Nurturing

To meet the growing demand for teachers, first we must do more to keep the good teachers we already have.

When Jennifer Gartell began her teaching career, the last thing in the world she thought she'd become was a statistic. And yet it happened. Hired just a week before school was to start, Jennifer discovered there were almost no supplies available for her third grade classroom in Loma Linda Elementary School, Phoenix, Arizona. So she trooped out to Target and bought everything she needed, including chalk.

But while the experience puzzled Jennifer--"How could the school system not provide their teachers with chalk?"--it did not dampen her enthusiasm for teaching.

Jennifer had wanted to be a teacher ever since the fourth grade where she had a wonderful teacher--"Mr. Spencer." Like a number of David Spencer's former students, Jennifer had stayed in touch with him. And on her desk, in her first classroom, she placed a picture of Mr. Spencer. For he was the teacher she aspired to become one day.

Then her burning idealism collided with the reality of 27 students, many of whom qualified for free and subsidized lunches. Jennifer tried to be their "teacher, friend, mother, and social worker," and was "overwhelmed." The children came to her "with problems my middle class background never prepared me for." At the end of her first year in the classroom, she wasn't sure she was "cut out for teaching." Yes, she had made a difference in some of the children's lives, but it had been so draining.

Jennifer Gartell joined the growing ranks of new teachers who leave their jobs in urban school districts--many such districts in fact have a new teacher turnover rate of 50 percent. Fortunately, she decided to give teaching another year.

She moved on to a more prosperous district and has taught gifted students for two years, finding it rewarding. She still thinks about the children she left behind, however.

It's vitally important that we attract more bright young people to the teaching profession. But my message to school districts is that you should pay more attention to keeping the teachers you have--both the beginners like Jennifer Gartell of three years ago and the more seasoned teachers--Jennifer Gartell today.

In a time of a growing teacher shortage, it is a false economy to pinch pennies on teacher professional development, working conditions, and salaries, and then scramble madly in the weeks before school to fill the empty teaching slots vacated by teachers who have either left the profession or moved to another district.

And I am convinced that all teacher retention efforts must begin with the recognition of how difficult teaching really is.

After 30 years in elementary school classrooms, Jennifer's inspiration David Spencer put it best: "I've done a lot of things in my life, but teaching is the hardest thing I've ever done besides parenting my own kids."

My point is, why make teaching even harder than it already is? Give teachers the time they need to plan and confer with their colleagues. Provide them with the mentors and professional development they need. Reduce class size. And, for heaven's sake, pay them a professional salary.

Comments? You can E-mail Bob Chase at BobChase@nea.org. If you would like a response, please be sure to include your name and NEA local affiliate.