Like any career, teachers do not always remain in the same job for decades. In the 2023-2024 school year, students will become acquainted with teachers new to the district, but they will also have to readjust to school without the friendly faces of several past educators.

Greg Defoe is the superintendent of the ADM school district and explained how the school reacts when a teacher turns in a resignation.

“When principals and superintendents get those resignations, we kick the waste-basket, we cry a little and we pout. I just hate losing people. It is especially hard for principals close to and connected to the staff they work with, the teachers they work with. They don’t want them to leave. You operate with two different sets of emotions. You are happy for the person if they’re pursuing something that they want to pursue and then also disappointed that they’re leaving.”

The district felt this emotional journey after several high school teachers turned in their resignations. Next fall, the school is expected to lose a couple of teachers, including Jodi Baier, Jordan Thompson and Emily Burk.

Jodi Baier has worked at ADM High School for 19 years. She teaches Spanish II, Spanish II and Spanish IV. Baier will be leaving ADM to explore other career opportunities.

“I decided to move on from this job because I want to explore some other career or dream opportunities that have been in the back of my mind. I do not want to get too old before I decide to do that. I’m going to do a little bit of work for an audio textbook company this summer and then I might do some work with adult education.”

While Baier admits teaching has its challenges, she is proud of the changes she has made in the district and the relationships she has created.

“At ADM, I’m going to miss interacting with the students, just having fun and seeing them learn and grow in their Spanish journey. I’m proud of my work developing the program. When I started, there were 100 students in total in the program. I am also very proud of helping students be more communicative based and giving them the confidence to use Spanish, rather than only knowing grammar and background information.”

Industrial Tech and Computer Science teacher Jordan Thompson will also be leaving the district next fall. He has worked at the high school for 4 years and says he made the decision to leave this career partly because he is expecting a baby soon.

“My future career plans include a job in agriculture. What that is, I’m not really sure quite yet, but I’ve got some different opportunities that I’m looking at.”

Thompson said this decision required a lot of thought, but leaving will allow him to use the skills he has acquired through teaching in a new setting.

“In this job, you have to be a strong communicator with kids, parents and teachers and be a collaborative worker. You need to be a people person and understand how to read people and fulfill their needs.”

He admits that leaving the school was a hard decision, partly because of the relationships he has developed with his students over the last 4 years.

“I’m most proud of all of our kids’ accomplishments, whether it be in the classroom or in sports. Seeing them succeed and do good things is my biggest accomplishment.”

Emily Burk has worked at ADM for 1 year in the business department and is leaving to continue her education.

“I decided to leave this job for my own mental health. I’m going back to school to finish my accounting degree so that I can better myself before I can better the students. This job has definitely helped me grow as a person. I now know what I want to better my future and my career.”

Like the other teachers, Burk is also sad to leave her students, but is very appreciative of them.

“I am proud just seeing all those students grow, knowing that they actually learned something that they can put into use when they leave high school.”

When these teachers leave their positions, the school has to scramble to fill their shoes before the next school year. Greg Defoe admits that this can get pretty tricky.

“We go through that short process of feeling sorry for ourselves, and then there are some provisions that we have to do to post the job. We post it internally, and that posting has to run for seven days, according to our master contract that we have with the teachers’ union. Under most conditions, we have to wait seven days before we can announce the person who is going to fill that spot.”

Defoe said that if the administration cannot find a teacher to fill the position inside the district, they will post the job for all educators.

“We have to post the positions, all of our positions, on a digital repository called Teach Iowa. That’s where most people in Iowa go to look for educator positions, and then they collect applications. We try to let an application period run for two to three weeks. Principals will review the application pool, whether it’s 5 or 35, and identify a subset to do some initial interviews with. They’ll do some screening interviews with a shortlist of applicants, and then they’ll identify their finalists to come in and do onsite interviews. Typically, that includes a small team, like a principal, their assistant principal and other teacher representatives. Then, they reach a consensus and make an offer.”

As Defoe pointed out, losing teachers isn’t easy. Not only can it be difficult to find high-quality replacements, but it can also be disheartening to lose an important person in your life. However, in Baier, Thompson and Burk’s cases, this event isn’t sorrowful. It is instead a hopeful time where they can use the skills they learned teaching at ADM to pursue their dreams and reach contentment.