Over the past three years, teacher retirement and resignation rates have rapidly increased. The 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years saw a huge increase in the number of school staff members retiring compared to the 2018-2019 school year. The pandemic was difficult for everyone, but the impact of schedule changes, remote learning, and political issues surrounding the approved curriculum made it especially difficult for teachers. 

     Logan Spilker was one of many teachers at Monte Vista whose first year of teaching was during the 2021-2022 school year, which was the first year back in person after at-home learning. As a Monte Vista graduate and the former resident substitute, Spilker has seen many teachers come and go. He claimed there was a “huge exit” of teachers at the end of the 2020-2021 school year.

     Among the teachers who left the profession due to pandemic-related reasons was Spilker’s own mother, Yvonne Spilker, who taught math at Monte Vista for 38 years. Although she was at retirement age, her goal had always been to teach for 42 years. Mrs. Spilker retired early due to quarantine and the stress of the pandemic. 

     “[There were] teachers who could’ve retired years ago but wanted to continue teaching, who all of a sudden decided, ‘I’m out,’” Spilker said. 

     Although a significant number of the teachers who retired early were at retirement age, pandemic stress also heavily affected new teachers. 

     Spilker explained how the 2021-2022 school year was especially difficult as a new teacher. After contracting COVID-19 for the third time in May of 2022, Spilker was actively considering leaving the profession. 

     While COVID was a large factor, teacher retirement and resignation rates have also increased because of the constantly changing schedule. In 2020 the school schedule shifted from seven periods every day to rotating block periods, while 2021 introduced student support. During the 2021-2022 school year, only four consecutive weeks had the same schedule. Trying to settle into a rhythm for teaching was nearly impossible and planning for tests and deadlines was incredibly difficult.

     These challenges reach far beyond Monte Vista. A study by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) found that in the second half of 2020 there was an increase of 26% of teachers retiring compared to 2019. Of every California teacher who retired in 2020, 62% said they were retiring earlier than they had planned. During the 2021-2022 school year, 80% of California districts reported massive teacher shortages. 

     Strangely, Monte Vista was not one of these schools. Although there was a 60-70% increase in the number of teachers leaving in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 than in 2018-2019, Monte Vista has been able to bounce back. According to Monte Vista principal Dr. Kevin Ahern, our school has been fortunate not to be facing a severe shortage. If a school divides the missing classes among the remaining teachers, as Monte Vista has done, the statistics do not view it as a teacher shortage.

     Besides Monte Vista’s luck with not having massive teacher shortages, these issues have some other silver linings. Due to the pandemic, more students than normal moved or sought alternative education. As a result, Monte Vista’s student population decreased by about 10%, reducing the number of required educators. Additionally, Monte Vista has been fortunate that teachers were willing to take on more classes. According to Ahern, numerous teachers who previously worked part-time have become full-time teachers, and previously full-time teachers have begun teaching one more class than they used to. 

     “We’ve gone through a lot these past couple of years,” Ahern said. 

     The pandemic has led to many obstacles for our school, and it’s difficult to predict when these challenges will end.