Having been a substitute teacher myself for a short time, I realize (to a lesser degree) the working conditions teachers deal with. I think Utah teachers are dropping out for a number of reasons. For one thing, they are underpaid for the workload they are given. For another, they are underappreciated by the administrative staff — I'm speaking of principals and others in the school districts. They think they can just arbitrarily switch teachers from one grade to another with no thought of how much time and effort goes into preparing for a whole different grade level. Many of these teachers have spent their hard-earned time and money on visual aids for a certain grade only to be told that they will now have to do the same thing for a whole different age and level of learning. That is extremely unfair and not very well thought for what should be a highly valued commodity. If we want to keep teachers in our classrooms, we must find ways to accommodate them, not make them accommodate us.
Donna Sweet
Bountiful