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Teacher exodus: Summer retirements up 38% year-over-year in Oklahoma
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A Lee Enterprises, Incorporated newspaper. Majority shareholder: David Hoffmann, Hoffmann Media Group.
Teacher exodus: Summer retirements up 38% year-over-year in Oklahoma
'This past year was just tough,' said former Collinsville superintendent
- Andrea Eger
- Sep 7, 2021
- Sep 7, 2021 Updated Oct 20, 2022
- 0
1 of 7
Former Collinsville Public Schools Superintendent Lance West speaks to attendees at Collinsville Chamber's monthly luncheon in March 2021.
- Art Haddaway News Editor
Rebecca Harris, who retired after 35 years as an educator, said: “The final sign came in December 2020 when a student’s parent flipped me the bird in a Zoom class. I said, ‘Thank you, God.’ That was the final sign. … The warriors in TPS beat the odds every single day, but it’s not a classroom anymore. It’s not an academic setting.”
- Mike Simons, Tulsa World
Lynette Shouse, who recently left Grissom Elementary School’s gifted and talented program, is pictured with students in their upgraded classroom in 2015. “Probably without the pandemic, I would have spent a few more years. I think the pandemic pushed some of us over the edge. Teachers my age and older — we’re not digital natives,” she told the Tulsa World.
- Tulsa World file
Although she’s left Tulsa Public Schools for a private school post, Lynette Shouse hasn’t finished teaching: “I feel like I had given what I needed to give to public education — I had given them three decades of my life. I feel like an athlete; I left it all on the field, but I still have a little bit more in me.”
- Tulsa World file
Rebecca Harris, a 35-year educator, sits in a section of her garden she calls "There's no place like gnome." Harris said she is focusing now on simple pleasures: “My doctor wanted to prescribe me an antidepressant. I said, 'I have a better prescription: I put in for retirement!'”
- Mike Simons, Tulsa World
Grissom Elementary School teacher Lynette Shouse (center) is pictured in 2019.
- Ian Maule, Tulsa World file
Related content
Oklahoma Watch: Academic year starts with record number of emergency-certified teachers
Prefer us on Google Learn More
A Tulsa World analysis found summertime teacher retirements are up nearly 38% year-over-year, in yet another sign that Oklahoma’s teacher shortage is worsening.
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“When COVID hit and we were put online virtually, I thought: If school’s going to be like this, I need to retire. I didn’t go into this to teach through a computer screen.”
— Irene Castell, who left her “dream job" at Zarrow International School after eight years
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Former Collinsville Public Schools Superintendent Lance West speaks to attendees at Collinsville Chamber's monthly luncheon in March 2021.
- Art Haddaway News Editor
Rebecca Harris, who retired after 35 years as an educator, said: “The final sign came in December 2020 when a student’s parent flipped me the bird in a Zoom class. I said, ‘Thank you, God.’ That was the final sign. … The warriors in TPS beat the odds every single day, but it’s not a classroom anymore. It’s not an academic setting.”
- Mike Simons, Tulsa World
Lynette Shouse, who recently left Grissom Elementary School’s gifted and talented program, is pictured with students in their upgraded classroom in 2015. “Probably without the pandemic, I would have spent a few more years. I think the pandemic pushed some of us over the edge. Teachers my age and older — we’re not digital natives,” she told the Tulsa World.
- Tulsa World file
Although she’s left Tulsa Public Schools for a private school post, Lynette Shouse hasn’t finished teaching: “I feel like I had given what I needed to give to public education — I had given them three decades of my life. I feel like an athlete; I left it all on the field, but I still have a little bit more in me.”
- Tulsa World file
Rebecca Harris, a 35-year educator, sits in a section of her garden she calls "There's no place like gnome." Harris said she is focusing now on simple pleasures: “My doctor wanted to prescribe me an antidepressant. I said, 'I have a better prescription: I put in for retirement!'”
- Mike Simons, Tulsa World
Grissom Elementary School teacher Lynette Shouse (center) is pictured in 2019.
- Ian Maule, Tulsa World file
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