Calling all classrooms: How would you deal with increasing rates of burnout and stress among teachers in America?

"There are multiple issues leading to teacher burnout but the biggest factor comes from misbehavior from students. It ultimately stems from home. Parents have stopped siding with schools on issues of behavior which has led to a "Me vs. You" attitude between the parents and schools. There is no longer accountability coming from the parents and when schools try to enforce this accountability the parents side with the misbehaving children. Unfortunately there is not an easy fix to this aside from attempting to generate more parental involvement, which many schools have already been trying."

• "Teachers have a BA and in many cases, an MA as well. Pay them accordingly. And make the benefits package better-- where health insurance is at least mostly covered. Currently in my district a family on the district health plan will pay approximately $3k MONTHLY just for health insurance; what is left over in the paycheck is not enough to live on. Teachers get into this field to help others and to provide a service, but this cannot be at the expense of our own ability to pay bills and have health insurance. Again, these are highly qualified people that have advanced degrees. Young people looking at career options-- and experienced teachers already in the field-- are waking up to the realization that the career is underfunded, underpaid, and underappreciated. This needs to change for the teacher shortage to change."

"The root cause of burnout isn’t on the teachers but on American families, especially the poor that don’t have the time to read to their kids at night or be present with them to teach basic manners. Stopping burnout starts with giving all children the basic skills and knowledge to be able to sit in and behave in a traditional classroom. States need to put a focus on accessible and free kinder care (preschool), and make sure families know about the opportunities. Throwing money at teachers isn’t going to solve the problem (but is appreciated), it’s about stamping out the root cause and that is underprepared and under cared for children in America."

• "School boards should require that every administrator from the superintendent down, must spend a full year in the classroom every 5 years. Administrators lose sight of what is going on and make requirements of teachers that are unrealistic. I am a retired teacher with administrator credentials who left the school system due to demanding parents and lack of support from administration in spite of having great student scores on standard test."

"First, severely increase our nation’s financial investment in educational personnel and resources. Teachers and principals should be paid the same as doctors, lawyers, and other expert professionals. Second, hold parents to a higher standard for providing for the mental health care and discipline of their children. Require courses in “parenting for education” and enforce disciplinary contracts between parents/guardians and schools. Instead of flooding schools with mental health professionals attempting to treat children while they learn to read and do math, school mental health workers should be working to support parents in how to help their children and how to connect with medical help. Finally, there needs to be bipartisan support for the success of public education."

• "Simple - stop asking teachers to support CRT like programs, stop asking them to be disciplinarians and psychologists, and start asking them to get back to the basics of the 1950's and 60's. People rarely get burned out when they are asked to do what they have a passion to do; burnout occurs when you force them to do things that are counter to that passion."

"There is little incentive to enjoy a career path with a heavy work load and low return on investment. Sure paying teachers more would be beneficial to drawing in more teachers, but that is a very surface level problem. Support from administration can be lacking. Teachers will often hear the phrase "If you need anything let me know," but once that need is requested it either takes too long for the help to come, or it doesn't come at all. I think smaller class sizes and more time to plan would also be a strong motivator. It's difficult to plan everything you need for this day and the next when you only have 45-60 minutes to do so--typically you stay after hours to get what you need to done (lesson plans, grade assignments, etc.). Teachers need more time to plan and ease the workload that they have so that the job is less likely to come home with them."

• "1. Quit having teachers do the non-teaching duties: hall duty, lunch duty, bus duty, etc. 2. Stop requiring teachers to do the non subject related activities; black history month project, anti-bullying project, mental health challenges, etc. 3. Stop with all of the "Woke" policies and initiatives. I can't put Bible versus on my wall but the teacher beside me can put every "woke" initiative slogan on hers and have transgender/gay material her's as well as have after school clubs basically recruiting young students to join the "transgender" movement. 4. Stop having teachers take the role of parent and disciplinarian. Administrators are pushing more and more discipline issues down to the teacher instead of handling themselves. I'm supposed to keep a call log and call all parents once per month as well as any time there is a discipline issue. It takes three times before the administrator will get involved. Their first question is where is your call log? There is too much pressure on teachers to do the non-subject related stuff. We have a saying in education. If you can't teach, they promote you to the district office where you sit up there and think up extra stuff for teachers to do in order to justify your job. I loved teaching and did it for 20 years. I got out last year."

"Very basic needs are not met for a lot of teachers, and because states determine how schools are funded those needs vary. Standard of living, resources, building safety, air conditioning, manageable class sizes, mental health care for students, etc. must be addressed! I'm teaching in a 100 year old building that just got air condition units put in last year. We've tried and tried to pass a levy, but the community won't support the tax increase. These basic needs to educate and support the children of American must be improved. And these improvements shouldn't rely on community support or affordability. A teacher's work environment is a student's work environment. I can't help but wonder how my students feel valued walking into a 100 year old building with limited and outdated facilities. When we don't support teachers -- we don't support kids."

• "Make the job doable. Teachers need more time for prep and collaboration. Provide more support for student mental health in school (guidance; social workers). Increase pay. Stop banning books and provide necessary resources for schools - both in terms of materials and staffing. Increase wages and training for paraprofessionals so they can make a living wage and really support at risk students. Provide money for adequate buildings and infrastructure like technology. Stop bashing teachers in the media. Bashing public education is part of the move to privatize education leaving students without means without opportunity for a good education. All children should have access to quality public education. Most public education is funded through local real estate taxes leading to inequities for poorer communities. An overhaul for funding more equitably is essential."