Teachers feel forced to say adieu to jobs

It was business as usual for Jim Miller on Monday at Alta High School. He went to class, prepared for today's graduation ceremonies, coped with more tests and said goodbye to old friends. Later, he will walk out of the school for the last time and begin the next phase of his life.

At the age of 55.

Students aren't the only ones saying goodbye to their schools en masse this week and last week. After more than three decades of teaching math (17 at Alta), Miller is one of hundreds of teachers leaving Jordan School District.

Four members of Alta's math department are part of the exodus. They didn't want to retire — teaching tends to be in your blood — but they had little choice. Jordan was cutting its benefits, leaving them roughly two choices: Take the money and run, or lose the money and stay.

For Alta, it was like breaking up the middle-aging Chicago Bulls. Miller and Co. brought game to the class, and it made no sense to let them go into the free agent market. Then again, if anyone ever tried to make sense out of the teaching profession, no one would do it.

Miller has taught math for 33 years. Brent Palmer has taught for 38 years, Al Peterson 33 years and Weber Walker 34. You do the math — that's 138 years of experience. And they're all going to retire and either stay retired or take their retirement payout and teach in another school district.

"I was mad at first," says Miller. "But I'm better off. Ultimately, it hurts the schools."

According to a study released by Utah State University earlier this year, Utah must hire more than 44,000 new teachers by 2014, or about 6,000 teachers per year. The number of teachers coming out of college is declining. Almost half of all teachers drop out in their first five years on the job. There are 12,500 licensed teachers who are not teaching, choosing the private sector to make a real living because teachers are underpaid and overworked, and right now the profession looks about as attractive as a lanced boil — WANTED: Looking for long hours and a smaller paycheck than you would receive elsewhere, but with reduced benefits?! Please, call Jordan School District today!

Jordan is letting go of the cream of the crop — the teachers who have been on the job at least 25 years. The district will net the intended result. It will hire less experienced teachers for smaller salaries and won't have to pay them benefits. But the students lose.

Don't look now, but the teaching profession just took another hit. Just when you didn't think it couldn't possibly get any worse, they found a way.