SWFL teachers weigh in on obstacles during pandemic school year

We got a closeup of how tough the school year during the pandemic has been on teachers in Southwest Florida. It has not been the feelings of isolation alone, but cheating problems and falling grades adding to the frustration of local educators.

We learned about how teachers are working to connect with their students during a time when there can be more barriers to making that happen.

Frustration among the ranks is not the best way to keep good teachers around. Only 28% of teachers say they think their students are learning as they should, and 72% say they’re not, or they’re not sure. But those are the numbers on their own, which doesn’t explain the palpable frustration from reading teacher comments in Southwest Florida.

Teachers went online to tell us about what their responsibilities have been like during a pandemic school year. An elementary school teacher in Lee County, who teaches a blended class, explained some of the obstacles. She teaches some students who are in person and at home.

“The ones that show up, either face-to-face or online, are preoccupied with constant changes, quarantines, face masks,” one teacher wrote in a comment. “Many don’t even show up.”

A high school teacher, who did not include her school district, said she cries several times a week. She told us she’s depressed.

“Cheating is rampant, and written work takes two times as long to grade, making it difficult for me to provide meaningful feedback to students,” the teacher wrote.

We shared that message with board member Gwyn Gittens, with Lee County School Board,

“It isn’t fair to the people who are trying to educate your children,” Gittens aid. “Qualified teachers and other qualified school staff are drowning. Burnout is at an all-time high.”

Gittens, who is a former Lee County teacher, is terrified of losing teachers who work hard to keep up with the times.

“We are losing teachers,” Gittens said. “We have to look at how to retain teachers. We have a hard enough time getting new teachers in. But along with that if we’re losing the brain drain that we have, we’re just in a world of difficulty.”

We still want to hear from more teachers in Southwest Florida about the education experience during the pandemic. Visit the WINK News Facebook page to see our survey post. We’ve already had around 70 teachers weigh in.