B

Hit the nail on the head. Lots of teachers in my family. Also, I might add, the common belief that teachers or coaches are off-work when the kids aren't in school is way off base. The state keeps adding more and more and more paperwork, trainings, etc. There are enough mandatory trainings now that the state apparently expects teachers to also be doctors, lawyers, psychiatrists, etc. One thing that is difficult to gauge is how long a teacher should work to earn that salary. A lot of administrators don't hold the teachers very accountable, so it would be easy to treat it like a 9 to 5 (or 8 to 4) job. But a good teacher - let alone a good coach - puts in a lot more than that. You would NOT want to pay them hourly. The insurance is bad but, combined with salaries rarely making a real jump (this year was an exception) teachers in this area in particular have no real raise in take-home pay more often than not. Why does discipline stink? Mommies that don't believe Johnny's crap stinks. Administrators that don't want to deal with mommy. AND..... the state has begun to decide what is an acceptable discipline rate. Not sure now, but at one point they were essentially giving quotas that you can only have a certain number of kids disciplined in in-school-suspension or otherwise. So are you gonna send a kid for screaming obscenities in the hall? Or do you save that spot for a kid that vapes in the bathroom? Or threatens a teacher? Plus some kids are deemed not responsible for their actions due to disabilities and such - regardless of what it does to teachers and students. Academically - the state is currently judging progress more by whether the kids are graduating than anything. So a kid that doesn't get a diploma means the school failed. Doesn't matter whether Johnny can spell or if Johnny simply refuses to learn how to spell. Standardized testing should prevent that - except they keep adding loopholes around that also. Additionally, the politics can be insane. There are very few schools that do anything like merit pay to begin with and the internal politics mean that might be irrelevant anyway. Also goes for discipline. Some kids get hammered for certain things. Other kids walk for the same reason. Sometimes simply because the people in charge like that kid. So, to recap, beyond low salary (combined with insane insurance hikes), no discipline, low academic standards, expanded school year and out of school time requirements, politics and more. Gee, why might there be a shortage of teachers? The crazy thing is the state talks about being concerned about teacher shortages, yet they are making the job more difficult and unpleasant. A lot of coaches are flocking to the refineries - not because they don't enjoy coaching and the kids, but because the situation is so much better. Most parents, I believe, are good parents that want the best for their kids and all the kids. I don't think they realize how messed up things are. The bottom of the barrel parents and kids are ruining it for everyone. Things will get better when the good parents realize the corrosion of standards are hurting everyone and they start demanding that their kids be taken more into account than the bad ones.