Green Bay Reporter

Wisconsin educators are looking to fix staff burnout. 

The Wisconsin Education Association Council, which is a member of the National Education Association, discovered that 55% of educators nationwide intend to vacate their job earlier than originally planned, FOX 11 reported.

They also discovered that 90% of educators feel burnout is a serious problem and 67% consider it to be very serious, according to FOX 11.

"Those unrelenting workloads are at crisis level," Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said, according to FOX 11.

Wirtz-Olsen is hopeful that the problem will become more recognized.

“Any district that is showing an ability to recognize that unrelenting workload and find some reprieve is helpful,” Wirtz-Olsen said, according to FOX 11. “Those are, as I’ve indicated, short-term solutions. We’re really seeking long-term solutions of how we can bring educator voice back to the table.”

Some have attributed these issues to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our time in January was really difficult coming off the omicron variant being really high,” said Bryan Davis, superintendent of the Oshkosh Area School District, according to FOX 11.

In an attempt to remedy this, the school district even started having two days as mental health holidays to aid educators and staff, in addition to the superintendent even being required to substitute for a day. Nonetheless, FOX 11 reports that teachers abandoning their jobs in the middle of the school year continues to be rampant.