What Hui refers to in the tweet above and the report he posted for the News & Observer is a sharp increase in teacher attrition given in the DPI’s recent report.

That report can be found here.

And that report focuses on March of 2022 to March of 2023. We are in April of 2024 and this teacher would not bet that trend has changed in North Carolina.

One of the most glaringly ironic statements made in the report came under the “Key Findings”:

“Generally, North Carolina teachers are remaining in the classroom” juxtaposed to the headline “North Carolina’s teachers are leaving in droves” reminds one of that brilliant scene in the movie The Naked Gun.

From Hui’s report:

WRAL’s online report also highlights the objective observation that this state is not treating the teaching profession with respect.

And for DPI to downplay the significance of this disturbing report is another symptom of the disease of ignorance that plagues this state and its commitment (or lack thereof) to public education.

“It’s interesting to me that somebody wants to go into teaching and after one year it’s no longer a desirable profession for them,” said Tom Tomberlin, senior director of the Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Educator Preparation and Teacher Licensure. Tomberlin, who presented the report to the board, said first-year teachers have told DPI they feel a lack of support and unmanageable workloads.

WRAL.com

Well, no sh*t, Tom. And what the hell do you mean by “interesting?”

From DPI’s report:

Those tables offer data that just does not seem “interesting” to me. Maybe to Tom Tomberlin.

Those numbers correspond to policies and actions by the NC General Assembly that Tomberlin seems to be placating.

He is even quoted as saying:

When you are having to hire more teachers every year it means you are losing teachers at a greater rate over too much time because that report is telling our state that we have done a horrible job at RETAINING teachers.

And it’s not like the teacher candidate pipeline is getting better. This is from DPI’s Educator Recruitment Dashboard released last month.

There are far fewer candidates now than a decade ago.

And this data chart shows a decrease of 11% since 2014.

That percentage is even steeper if measured against Catherine Truitt’s time on office. Also remember that in 2014 graduate degree pay increases and due-process rights were taken away from new teacher hires and that longevity pay was taken away from all veteran teachers.

Speaking of veteran teachers, today’s report offers some “interesting” numbers about the numbers of veteran teachers leaving the profession here in NC. This is from DPI’s dashboard attached to today’s presentation.

Here’s 2021.

Here’s 2022.

And here’s 2023.

The rates of teachers at year 28, 29, and 30 going into retirement is rather surprising. Yes, a teacher now can retire after 30 years of service with full pension and as of now health benefits. But look at the number of teachers who are leaving right before 30 years. That’s telling. They are using accrued sick days to account for time in the classroom (perfectly legal). What that may mean is that veteran teachers who could remain in the classroom for many more years are choosing to retire at the very first possibility. Considering that most career teachers who retire from the profession at 30 years are still in their 50’s, that’s even more telling.

That speaks to the lack of respect that veteran teachers have received in the past ten years in NC.