NYC Teacher Retirements On The Rise After COVID Lull, Report Says

New York City NY

31 August, 2021

2:36 PM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — Good news, New York City public school parents: most teachers are staying put for the coming school year, a new report says. The Department of Education estimates 1,200 to 1,300 teachers will file for retirement this summer, the New York Daily News first reported. While that is an increase from the summer of 2020, it is not the mass exodus that some feared, the Daily News reported. The retirements are actually in line with pre-COVID numbers, according to the report. During the summer 2019, 1,100 DOE teachers filed for retirement, the Daily News reported. The following summer, only 900 teachers filed, a dip union officials attributed to uncertainty over the pandemic and the new challenges of virtual learning, according to the Daily News. The low numbers bucked expectations of a retirement boom amid low morale and stress. "So many contacted me and said I want to retire, but I don't want to retire from a virtual classroom," New York City Teacher Retirement System Chair Debra Penny told the New York Daily News. "You don't want to leave in the dead of night." Read the full New York Daily New report here.