Sean Means, a teacher at Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy, stands in a field in front of the Carnegie Library in Homewood on Sunday, Oct. 23. (Photo by Lilly Kubit/PublicSource)
Three teachers associated with Pittsburgh Public Schools talk about the numerous challenges they have faced.
Ashley Mangone was a teacher at Pittsburgh Public Schools for 11 years until one day she decided she did not want to return. The reason: She was mentally and emotionally exhausted from working in the classrooms.
Mangone is not the only one. Kelly Jane Walker, who had been a teacher in the district for 14 years, left her job this year, citing mental and intellectual burnout.
“I think we are on a decline. And I don’t know if they are going to be able to fix it,” said Walker.
Kelly Jane Walker (center) takes preschool students on a walk at Whirlybird Nature School in Beechwood Farms, Fox Chapel on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Walker turned away from a 14-year career with the Pittsburgh Public Schools, citing burnout. (Photo by Lilly Kubit/PublicSource)
Teacher morale has decreased significantly since the pandemic, according to a 2022 survey of 1,324 public school teachers in the nation conducted by the EdWeek Research Center and commissioned by the Winston School of Education and Social Policy at Merrimack College.
Roughly two out of five teachers said they were unsatisfied with their jobs. Of the teachers who said they were satisfied with their jobs, the number who said they were “very satisfied” dropped from 39% in 2012 to 12% in 2022.
While the pandemic has deeply impacted the mental health of teachers, some teachers and other educators attribute the burnout and low morale to factors that have long been prevalent in the Pittsburgh school district and many others. Three issues that most frequently emerged in conversations with PublicSource were low pay, lack of decision-making power and the effects of how students are assigned to neighborhood schools.
Pre-pandemic struggles still plague PPS students
James Fogarty, executive director of the A+ Schools advocacy group, said there are numerous structural challenges that can impact teacher morale.
If a student is part of the district, they go to a school based on the neighborhood they live in or can apply to a magnet school. This concentrates students from high-poverty and economically disadvantaged communities with less access to early childhood resources and students with disabilities, according to Fogarty.
“And then we take the teachers who are the least experienced, and they usually get those buildings first because of how the contract allows for teachers to transfer,” Fogarty said. “So as you get seniority, you’re allowed to put in when there are openings in other buildings. So we have more senior teachers located in buildings — not all — but located in buildings that have fewer concentrations of poverty.”
Read entire article here
About Post Author
