It seems like everytime I turn on the news I see a story about some teacher making poor decisions or committing a criminal act. With most news outlets having a social media presence we often see the story followed by multiple comments about how terrible teachers are or some other disparaging remarks against the profession. It is frustrating to see all educators painted in this light.
Often you will see such stories followed by comments about teachers not deserving to get paid a decent wage because of the actions of a few. In reality there are those committing heinous crimes in every profession. They could be ministers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers, daycare workers, grocers, law enforcement, etc. Bottom line there are people in every profession that violate the trust of those that depend on them.
In education, and especially in this state we have seen a drastic exodus of educators, roughly 30,000 over the last six years. Some of those were to retirement, and many left the profession entirely. When you have this happening, you increase the odds of retaining some of the less qualified candidates and unfortunately you get a higher percentage of those that may violate your trust.
To prevent this, we need to continue to train our staff and students to watch for signs of inappropriate activity. Background checks are vital, but sometimes there is nothing on record to help.
Above all we need to be protecting our students and sharing the great things happening in our schools. Flood the news outlets with the good and hopefully outweigh the bad.
Often you will see such stories followed by comments about teachers not deserving to get paid a decent wage because of the actions of a few. In reality there are those committing heinous crimes in every profession. They could be ministers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers, daycare workers, grocers, law enforcement, etc. Bottom line there are people in every profession that violate the trust of those that depend on them.
In education, and especially in this state we have seen a drastic exodus of educators, roughly 30,000 over the last six years. Some of those were to retirement, and many left the profession entirely. When you have this happening, you increase the odds of retaining some of the less qualified candidates and unfortunately you get a higher percentage of those that may violate your trust.
To prevent this, we need to continue to train our staff and students to watch for signs of inappropriate activity. Background checks are vital, but sometimes there is nothing on record to help.
Above all we need to be protecting our students and sharing the great things happening in our schools. Flood the news outlets with the good and hopefully outweigh the bad.
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