Lynette Henley needed one more year to receive her full pension after 40 years as a teacher, but she couldn’t convince herself it was worth the risk.
So Henley, 65, who has diabetes and congestive heart failure, retired last June as a math and history teacher at Hogan Middle School, in Vallejo, California, which serves mostly Black and Hispanic children.
“You’re in a classroom with 16 to 20 kids and a lot of my students weren’t vaccinated,” said Henley. “I just didn’t feel safe. It wasn’t worth it to possibly die to teach.”
Henley, who is Black, is part of a nationwide surge of teachers who are leaving the profession — especially evident among members of the profession with minority backgrounds. Amid the pandemic’s toxic brew of death, illness, and classroom disruption, these departures of seasoned teachers have created another strain for students.