New Mexico is facing a serious teacher shortage. Schools have had to adapt quickly in the pandemic, leaving many educators to take on more roles than ever before. We spoke with three teachers about how burnout has affected both their professional and personal lives.
SIMONA MUNIZ: My name is Simona Muniz and I teach seventh grade. At the middle school age, there is a lot of anxiety and depression and then the added demands put on not only teachers but admin too. I feel like they almost do it on purpose; they put so much on us that you feel like I can never meet all the demands that they ask me. So, it always feels like it's never good enough.
I think the burnout, it's all those unnecessary tasks. We're all there for the kids. We're obviously not there for the money, we’re there for the kids.
In society right now, there's a lot of hate for teachers. But no, definitely don't feel respected, PED, all the setups, like the whole evaluating you as a teacher unrespectful.
Being penalized for little things, when micromanaging people is not helping the situation. It's not making people to feel supported, it makes people feel like you're pointing the finger at them. Being told you're not enough, or you suck at something that you give your heart and soul to not just literal, you know, tasks, but your heart and soul. Oh, and you know, you're being told this by people who have no idea what you're going through, we just lacked so much. And if we didn't have CEOs and higher ups who made so much more than we did, telling us, this is just regular burnout, that would help.
RENÉ J. PALOMARES II: My name is René J. Palomares II. I think teaching has always been demanding, there is a sense of burnout, but you find a pace that works for you. But once COVID-19 hit, it just felt like the burnout was coming in a lot stronger. It felt like the demand for teaching were a lot more cutthroat.
For me, the biggest thing that stands out, is how the district and even the state, they're just reactive. We're never proactive. All of a sudden, the teachers are leaving the classroom. And now there's an opportunity for raises to kick in.
From the top, I think there needs to be more creative outlets and people having creative discussions to move the state forward and get rid of our 50th or 49th numbers that consistently haunt us. Because there's really hard working teachers that are willing to be creative and willing to be innovative in the classroom.
Long term, it looks like we're taken care of and we have our benefits, whatever. But I think on a day to day, hour to hour basis, the system does not care about students or teachers. And unfortunately, teachers are having to tap into their wallets, their social lives, and that's where it gets draining. Because we are asked to be so much more than just an educator. I mean, we are their parents, at times, we are their social worker.
Ultimately, it comes down to being respected and funding. When you go the first week of school and there's students literally drawing standing up, it's unnecessary. I think about the student experience because they're going to move forward and they're going to tell the stories of what it was. Now, are these stories going to be stories that they want their kids to be a part of? Because these kids aren't funded, and they're not supported.
KRISTINE MAYLE: So, during remote learning, I actually think I became a better teacher because I had more time to be thoughtful about my practice.
Physically, I'm fine, I get out of work and I have energy, but my brain is shot. It's constant levels of stress. Like they say teachers make thousands of decisions in a day. And we were already doing that. And now like we're worrying, like life and death kind of stuff. We have to keep them safe. We have to keep them mentally, okay.
Somebody with a master's degree and 16 years of experience, if there was some sort of like comparable job I could do for a similar salary, I love teaching, I'd be gone. I'm so tired of being disrespected and treated like garbage.
The last couple of years have made it crystal clear that my life's passion, which is educating kids and preparing them for the future, is not the priority. That's not the reason why we're in school. We're in school so that we have free babysitters.
My number one ask, I think every single one of them from the board members down to the accountants, need to be in subbing in our buildings. We don't have enough subs, we can't cover our classes. Come you'll serve two purposes. You'll help us in our staffing situation. And then they could actually experience like, "Oh, kids aren't actually wearing masks" or, "Oh, this is the behavior stuff that's going on" or "It really sucks to run a school when they're down four teachers." It would be amazing if they would do that.
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