I do not have subpoena power. I cannot keep a teacher at the school.
I believe there was a time, and I fully acknowledge that I am not immune to romanticizing the past, when a school administrator could count on her or his staff being solidly in place before the end of the school year and that that same staff would return intact in the fall. The hiring season for schools was the spring and there were prospects from which to choose. Moreover, once contracts were signed (oh, and we do not offer contracts at school anymore – there are now different documents for employment but that is another story), the staff would remain assembled for the duration of the school year except in very, very rare circumstances.
This is not the case any more.
There are myriad reasons for this significant shift in the ways in which schools do business. I believe this reframing of educational employment caught up with the Gig Economy of the rest of the job world and that forces encouraging it were in place long before the pandemic. I also believe that the pandemic accelerated the mindshift. Regardless of the cause, the truth is that the hiring season at a school is now year-round. Prospects are not always plentiful. Staff depart when they determine they must.
What is a self-respecting administrator to do?
Keep recruiting. Keep interviewing. Keep working. These are the obvious answers.
What I have found most challenging in this morass is the “July Resignation,” the one you do not see coming. Actually, sometimes you do see it coming, but the effect is the same. A late summer departure is a challenge.
I have had staff quit on the last payday of the summer. That has felt calculated.
I have had staff come to my office to say “I have to quit unless you raise my salary.” I do not have that kind of power.
I have had people say “you are the reason I am leaving.” Ouch.
I have had staff resign via text and email. Classy.
Especially when that person is leaving a key position – is an AP teacher or a coach or someone who is singularly hard to replace, the desire to say exactly what I am feeling is strong.
I know I cannot remonstrate with the person leaving. To misquote Will McAvoy from The Newsroom, I do not have subpoena power. I cannot keep a teacher at the school. The “contracts” we sign may have some legal consequences if they are broken, but the work to unravel them is rarely worth the effort. I also cannot trash the teacher or administrator when they go, though that is sometimes incredibly difficult.
I sometimes want to. Very much.
But who would that serve?
“I quit.”
“I am sorry to see you go. How can I help you transition to your next stop?”
This seems the right approach to me. This is the approach I have settled on after surviving many instances of late spring and summer and late summer/early fall departures.
The school goes on. My ego might take a hit, but I will go on, too.