You arrive each morning with the energy to accomplish something and then discover a certain kind of unwarranted tension. Over time, you begin to wonder if you're remaining steadfast to a vision or making a fool of yourself. If you really do feel that way, you need to think about moving on. If the high rate of teacher turnover is hard for the adults in the school, it is devastating for the students. It can take a year or more for young people, especially those living amid poverty and violence, to develop trust and respect for a teacher.
Students take it personally when a teacher they have rapport with suddenly leaves.
Willie Hamilton, who taught at McClymonds for seven years before becoming its principal, laments the fact that he must replace about one-third of his teachers every year. As the year goes on, they'll nervously start asking you if you're coming back. If you tell them you're not, they take it very hard, very personally, even if you're leaving to take on another challenge. But after mulling over the question a moment, he admits that more money by itself wouldn't really fix the problem. So promising teachers get little help honing the craft, and bad teachers, once hired, stick around forever.