Teacher retention is a nationwide issue, also affecting Collin County schools. But some districts are trying to find ways to keep teachers in their positions.
On April 4, 2023, Lisa Wilson, Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, discussed areas of focus that district staff would like to see more of during a board meeting.
According to the Plano Star-Courier, the district currently is in a visioning phase of its incoming academic vision. Focus groups, consisting of teachers and other staff, were put together to look at career and technology education and academic programming, including advanced academics, special education, ESL and instructional technology.
The 60 participants finalized they would like Plano ISD to support its students and remove barriers for the growing number of multilingual students. The staff also discussed reevaluating its behavioral management training, multilingual and special ed training.
All of these changes would ideally give teachers more control in their classrooms while providing the resources needed to help students thrive.
But some districts have other ideas for teacher retention — 4-day school weeks. In Anna, the district recently approved moving to a four-day week for the upcoming 2023-24 school year. AISD said that the recently introduced change will be a three-year pilot.
The decision followed a survey that the Anna ISD school board conducted with the community and staff back in November 2022. The district says that the results of the survey showed 72% of parents and 87% of staff were in favor of switching to a four-day week.
But a recently created Senate Bill threatened the 4-day week and some lawmakers are trying to ban it. Campbell reasoned that a shorter week can have negative impacts on both students and families, as families have to find childcare during the one day off.
But the issue of teacher retention is nothing new, and it began before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic fueled the already limited teacher supply. Local Profile previously reported by March 2021, 42% of teachers said they’d considered leaving or retiring during the previous year and more than half of those teachers said it was because of COVID-19.
Since, the issue has grown, and many districts are scrambling to keep schools fully staffed. Plano ISD’s final recommendations will appear before the board on April 18, 2023.
