Why one good teacher decided to quit

[one...two...tree 2,762]

(CNN) -- This is Linda DeRegnaucourt's last summer off. When school starts in August, it will be her last year to think about high school classes, advanced placement tests and calculus.

If all goes as planned, this will be her last year teaching at Palm Bay High School in Brevard County, Florida.

She doesn't want to go. After 13 years of teaching high-level math, she has a tested stable of learning methods that helped all her students pass the AP calculus exam. Her room is a popular place for students to escape the drama of the high school cafeteria. Few jobs can indulge her excitement for linear functions and matrix calculus.

"I hate to have to leave it," DeRegnaucourt said. "I really thought I was going to be that teacher, 65 years old and retiring from the education field. That's not going to happen."

She's quitting, she said, because she can't afford to stay.

Two years ago, a divorce left 47-year-old DeRegnaucourt with a single income. Rental properties she owned only caused more financial strain as Florida's real estate market fell apart in recent years. Despite her years of experience, she earns $38,000, she said, less than she made in the past, when teachers received larger supplements for additional certifications.

Once she made a budget, she realized she didn't make enough money to cover her expenses and save for her future. Changing careers felt like the only wise financial move, she said.

DeRegnaucourt isn't the only one.

Attracting the best students to teaching -- and keeping them -- is tough for schools across the country. Average starting teaching salaries are $39,000, and rise with experience to an average of $54,000, according to "Closing the Talent Gap," a 2010 report by McKinsey & Company. Teacher salaries can't compete with other careers, the report said, and annual teacher turnover in the United States is 14%. At "high-needs" high schools, it is 20%.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development data from 2007 said the United States ranks 20th out of 29 for starting teacher salaries, and 23rd out of 29 for teacher salaries after 15 years.

But it's not just the pay, DeRegnaucourt said, "It's the way we're treated."

Her colleagues have waited until just before school starts to learn what courses they'll be teaching, she said. Uncertainty makes it impossible to prepare, hard to succeed.

"Five years ago, 10 years ago, kids would ask me, should they become teachers? I was like, 'Oh, God, yes, I love what I do,' " she said. "Now, I tell my kids, 'You're really, really bright. Why don't you think about going into (this or that?)' They have the potential to be doctors, lawyers, nurses, CEOs and scientists . Why would I recommend to my kids, who I absolutely love, to struggle for years?"

This year, she's finishing the prerequisite courses needed to enroll in nursing school. DeRegnaucourt hopes to spend a couple of more years learning, then work in emergency care nursing to gain experience.

"It's challenging," she said, "but there's not a whole lot that's more challenging than doing upper level mathematics."

Here's what DeRegnaucourt had to say about her decision to leave teaching.

CNN: Why did you go into teaching?

DeRegnaucourt: When my son was 6 years old, the school system that he was in in Georgia, it did not allow the teacher to take her planning days unless she could find a volunteer sub. She had to ask for parental volunteers. I told her at the beginning of the year, 'I work at night. I'll take every single one of your days. I can substitute for you.' I really enjoyed working with the kids. Then I read an article in the paper, and it said that (most) boys get the same educations as their mothers. I had not gone to college. I wanted my son to be college educated. It was time for me to go back to school.

I knew that math was an area where I would never, ever worry about getting a job as a teacher. If you're in math or physics or chemistry, you can write your own ticket.

CNN: Had you always been interested in math?

DeRegnaucourt: I was not a good student in high school. I really needed a teacher to take me under their wing and go "Look, you have potential." I didn't have that teacher. I missed a lot of school. You can't be good at math unless you are present to learn it.

When I went back to school, my first math class was pre-pre-college math ... you didn't even get a grade for it, you just got pass or fail. I remember starting in negative numbers; I never even knew negative numbers existed, except in my checking account. Whatever I did learn in high school, I had forgotten. I was 29 years old. I had been out of school for 11 years.

I had a teacher for developmental math named Ms. Sifton, and she was amazing. Out of my entire career, she was the best math professor I ever had. I loved math.

CNN: Did that influence how you teach?

DeRegnaucourt: I didn't take Ms. Sifton for granted. The way she made it so elemental, and gave me that strong base to go ahead and succeed. What I have found is most people aren't awful at math, even if math is not your strength. You can be successful, given the right mentor. It definitely influenced the way I teach.

I have always had a very open relationship with my students. I don't believe I deserve respect because I'm older. I deserve it because I've earned it, and you deserve it because you've earned it.

The majority of the really, really amazing techniques I have came from students. I worked summers for years. I taught a six-week class where students could either remediate or jump ahead. You taught it for an eight-hour day. I had a young man, Victor Rodriguez. He came up to me, "Ms. D, we're just learning and learning and learning. We're just forgetting and forgetting and forgetting. We need to practice it." I asked "What do you think we should do?" He said, "I think we need to go to the boards." Every day, except on test days, my kids go to the board (to work math problems in front of each other). If they finish and they get it right, I give them a thumbs up and they go help another student.

The best teaching technique I have -- it came from Victor Rodriguez.

CNN: Why did you decide to leave teaching?

DeRegnaucourt: I have had to learn how to budget. In those thoughts, I came to the realization that the money I make isn't enough. It isn't enough to live alone. That realization was daunting. As educators, we make what we make, nothing more, nothing less. In industry, if I'm valuable, my company can keep me by making the package they offer me more attractive. In education, the principal's hands are tied. You just never know what the future holds. I still need to plan for the future.

CNN: Why did you choose nursing?

DeRegnaucourt: I'm happiest when I feel like I'm making a difference in another individual's life. There are other things I could do. I could take actuarial exams. I could easily pass those; it's math. Do I want to be an actuary, doing risk assessment for an insurance company with no human contact? No, thank you. What's really amazing is that nurses, with a two-year degree, make $20,000 more than I do.

CNN: How did your students react when they learned this would be your last year teaching?

DeRegnaucourt: My students were the first ones to know. One student comes to mind: Just the other day, he e-mailed and asked me to call him. He wanted to confirm again I would be there next year. The ones who were leaving, they don't care. I've already done for them what I needed to do. My juniors moving up to calculus, they were distraught. They know I know what I'm doing. They know what it's like to have a teacher who doesn't know what they're doing. They've all had bad teachers. We all have.

CNN: What do you hope your students take away from their time in your classes?

DeRegnaucourt: Kids come into my classroom, and everyone thinks they're all math geeks. They're not. I have so many kids who take my class because they want the calculus credit for college, but they're not the kind of kid who could go to a college calculus class and meet with success. I want them to get a love not of mathematics, just knowledge, just learning. I want them to always remember how anything was possible.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/20/why.quit.teacher/index.html

[TBoneTX 45,324]

My best teachers were those who were too smart to be doing what they were doing. They could have done many other things, but teaching was a "calling." Now, I encounter skoolteechurs who can't spell or speak correctly, and I fear for the kids.

[EAbbas 213]

When I first started teaching pre-k it was a wonderful experience but within about 7 years it became even the most difficult... of all things even pre-k!!!! My problem was I had parents who shouldn't have sent their children to school and when I needed thier support in the classroom the parents often went against what I was trying to teach or complained about taking the child out into the playground to play or they would find something they wanted me to do for the child that a baby sitter should have done. But that was a few... but the few make it rotten for the rest! If the parents don't respect what the teacher is doing the children will see it and realize they don't have to either!

My last year teaching I had a parent come up to me and tell me her daughter, Audra, was reading and it was because of me that she was reading so well. Not the typical two word pages but she was reading at 1st grade level. I always loved reading and that was one thing I tried to get the children to love as well. That was a great note to leave on for sure!!!

Now...I'm working in a totally different field...there are times I miss teaching the children but it came with a lot of disrespect from parents..as they would think of you as their personal nanny.

I continue to back the teachers that my children have as they have my utmost respect and I value what they do for my own children. I praise them for the challenging field they are in and the many different changes each year they face as a result of the changes in the school system, parents, children and faculty as well as the changes to the economy!!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hogwash. $39,000 but for 35 weeks work. All holidays, even made up holidays, OFF with pay and a virtually guaranteed job for life and excellent retirement. She has another agenda. Teachers are making $1000 per week (worked) and more, usually more.

Make union membership voluntary and they would be better off. She can always get a job in the summer.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's pro rata isn't it? You don't get paid for the holidays...

[slim 1,525]

If someone can't make it on $39,000/year, that's their own fault. And like Gary said, that's for 9 months. Not too shabby!

[EAbbas 213]

I don't disagree that this is good money but at the same time you have to look at the totality of what the teacher does....

They deal with all kinds of issues, good and bad, sometimes extreme situations of disrespect from both parents and students, they use their own income to stock their classroom supplies because there is not a budget that allows for full reimbursement anymore. They used to be reimbursed 100% from school funding but now if they are reimbursed it isnt to the extent of what they used from their own pockets and to top it off...most of the time the need for supplies outweighs what the reimbursement allows.

And Of course, depending on where they teach, how much education they have received and how much experience they have it may not be 39k... it may be much lower... and it could be higher...

[Saddle Bronc 124]

If someone can't make it on $39,000/year, that's their own fault. And like Gary said, that's for 9 months. Not too shabby!

That figure sounds ok, but in some areas of the country (such as Rotten-Apple, Garbage-State and metro-DC) would be below qualification to rent an apartment (gross income 3x the rent).

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Teachers have become an easy target for some of our politicians. Schools aren't performing well? Blame the teacher. Kids isn't learning? Blame the teacher. Education system becoming too expensive? Blame the teacher. Funny how that works. Nobody would ever sit there and blame the soldiers for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not going well, those countries not heading in the direction we'd like them to, or for the inadequate cost/benefit ratio. No, we blame the political and sometimes the military leadership for that because Lord knows, the problem is certainly not that the men and women on the ground don't give it all they got - quite literally in way too many cases. Why, then, is it okay to blame the men and women on the ground in our education system for it's failures?

[EAbbas 213]

totally agree with you and quite frankly unless you have worked volunteered or substituted in that field its difficult to grasp what the teachers actually have to deal with daily

Teachers deserve our utmost respect and our commitment to give them support. Without it we are setting them up for failure no matter how much they make.....then who would suffer?....the future would...

[Nina~ 431]

It's pro rata isn't it? You don't get paid for the holidays...

I am not sure how it works in other school district, but in the district that my mom works, they have a choice to either be an hourly employee or salaried employee. Hourly employees get a larger per-hour rate but they don't collect a paycheck during summer or holidays. Salaried employees get a smaller rate, but continue to draw a steady paycheck every month despite the number of hours they worked. Either way, both salaried & hourly teacher take home the same amount at the end of the year.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Ha, I saw this spin-doctor article on CNN yesterday and KNEW Steven would post it... Too funny.

Of course the key here in all of this is the fact that she is now divorced and was used to one lifestyle, now that she has to cut it on her own, she doesn't get that lifestyle. So she had two options... find another sugar daddy or get a higher paying job. She's choosing the later part of that.

$39,000/yr in Florida is easy living for a single person. You can have a nice home,decent car, entertainment expenses, etc... not to mention that she's working 9 months a year as stated.

Seriously, this is a spin/hack article by CNN who stated the 'facts' in the first part of the article, and yet still wrote the hogwash because they knew they'd get the typical left-wing reaction (see Steven posting this article here).

[^_^ 5,021]

It's pro rata isn't it? You don't get paid for the holidays...

My wife is a teacher at a private school and her contract is a set sum for 10 months. She gets paid exactly 10% that sum every month followed by taxes and pre-tax deductions like her 401K. She does not get paid as part of that contract for the other 2 months of the year but has an option to sign another contract for those 2 months working camp. Any holidays that fall within the 10 months do not affect her pay.

[dalegg 143]

Teachers have become an easy target for some of our politicians. Schools aren't performing well? Blame the teacher. Kids isn't learning? Blame the teacher. Education system becoming too expensive? Blame the teacher. Funny how that works. Nobody would ever sit there and blame the soldiers for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not going well, those countries not heading in the direction we'd like them to, or for the inadequate cost/benefit ratio. No, we blame the political and sometimes the military leadership for that because Lord knows, the problem is certainly not that the men and women on the ground don't give it all they got - quite literally in way too many cases. Why, then, is it okay to blame the men and women on the ground in our education system for it's failures?

I would kind of liken the students to the soldiers and the teachers to the leadership, so the blame is the same to me.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I am not sure how it works in other school district, but in the district that my mom works, they have a choice to either be an hourly employee or salaried employee. Hourly employees get a larger per-hour rate but they don't collect a paycheck during summer or holidays. Salaried employees get a smaller rate, but continue to draw a steady paycheck every month despite the number of hours they worked. Either way, both salaried & hourly teacher take home the same amount at the end of the year.

Right - but if they get paid for 9 months a year (at a rate that would equate to $39,000 per annum) then they aren't making $39,000.

Either way, it's not a lot of money.