CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Another topic in our back-to-school series is the issue of teacher retention. In our deep dive, we heard personal testimony from one educator who dedicated 24 years of her life to teaching Coastal Bend students. She told 3NEWS the profession took a toll on her health.
“Well, there's a concern because in CCISD alone there was over 400 vacancies the entire year”
We heard from Dr. Nancy Vera who presides over the Corpus Christ American Federation of Teachers. She wants to know why increased salaries are not making their way to school educators.
“Do they not hire because of a shortfall of money from the state. They certainty aren't paying the teachers, custodians, bus drivers or paraprofessionals enough to maintain what they want them to do.”
We sat down with Veronica Hernandez who has been Teaching for CCISD for 24 years, with a special place in her heart for fifth grade —and even though she made the decision to retire in 2023 she says the wound is still fresh.
“And unfortunately, the stress and the workload became very overly daunting. And also, maybe the lack of pay and not having competitive pay.”
Hernandez explains that technically she did hit the rule of 80 which means she met the requirements to retire –but she says that’s not what ultimately led to her decision of turning her classroom light off.
“The workload… its very unrealistic expectations. ‘
Hernandez explained how at times she felt she didn’t have the resources or frankly the time in the day to be able to meet what was expected of her.
“Classroom teach time. You are very limited so when you start the morning you hit the ground running because there is no time to waste.”
Hernandez recalls at one point in her career she had 28 fifth graders in her room. Another year she was assaulted by a student who she believes should have been in a behavioral unit classroom.
"...Never saw that coming. Never in a million years thought I would have a student literally physically hit me.”
She believes that incident is partly to blame on lack of qualified personel, and shes not the only teacher to have experienced something similar.
“Our district is struggling to find that personnel but if we had incentive pay perhaps you could attract that personnel.”
But those stories aside- Hernandez said what really caused her burnout was the emphasis of standardized testing.
"...Because that’s what i got in to teaching for.. to instill a love of learning - when you have to drill, drill, drill to be ready for test, test, test.
She said it's daunting on both the student and teachers. Which ultimately led to her decision to focus on her health and retire.
As for Dr. Vera- she predicts teacher retention will continue to decline.
“I think it's going to be the trend because I think that teachers are being more mobile -they are moving from location to location -trying to get the best pay they can get to help support their family”
Hernandez says her advice to newbie teachers out there is to find a veteran and let them take you under their wing. Because support is everything.
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