EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Across the borderland, teachers leaving the profession has become a major concern. Some saying they are stressed and burnt out.

“They are not respected, for who they are, and for what they do, as an educator, by the district, by the administration, by the students, by the parents and by the society in general.” President of the El Paso Teacher’s Association, Norma De La Rosa said.

Teachers across the borderland are leaving the profession for many reasons such as low salary, school shootings, the pandemic and even having to watch what they say to students.  

“I think it would just be alarming, just to know that between the end of the school year and the start of this fall school year, there were over 200 employees that resigned or retired from the district.” 

With 49 years in the education field, De La Rosa says she also noticed that when COVID hit, within a matter of 6 months, teachers were overwhelmed with so many changes.

“Trying to do that, put everything on the computer, you know have upload it, have kids upload and them download, I would get calls from teachers saying, you know what, I don’t mind parents in there but it’s very difficult when I have a parent interrupt my classroom and tell me, say I’m not doing this right.”  

Some teachers were even unsure about going back to teaching in class; to avoid the changes and COVID.

“Have they been exposed to COVID, were they coming to school COVID, that added a lot of stress when they started to come back. They may not get sick, but taking the virus home, and someone at home gets sick.” 

Adding that, because of the new safety measures and school lockdowns, some teachers are feeling trapped in their own classroom.

“You know they have to keep their doors locked, they have to keep the doors closed, all the doors are locked, that’s just adding more on top of their plate.”  

What many parents often don’t realize is that their child’s teachers are putting in extra hours at home. Often taking away quality time with their family.

“The pay has a lot to do with it, teachers do not have a 40 hour work week. They go to work, they work all day, many of them stay late, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30 at night. You know trying to just catch up on grading their papers, you know getting ready for next days class.”

De La Rosa tells KTSM, that since there has been a shortage of educators, teachers have had to teach two different grades at the same time while others have had to teach more than 22 students in a class. 

“They have to be the second parent, they have to be the social worker, they have to be the nurse, they have to be the psychologist, and so forth. But now because so much has happened especially after covid, you know now the teachers have taken the responsibility even more.”

De La Rosa says even being recorded and blasted negatively on social media adds another challenge for some teachers. 

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