Many teachers take leaves mid-year, and the school year of 2016-17 is no exception. I even had a teacher myself who decided to quit just right before Thanksgiving break. Are these leaves acceptable, or should they be looked down upon for leaving their classrooms vacant?

I believe that teachers are obliged to teach their students for a full year; it only seems fair to the students of their classroom. The only exception to this might be if the teacher has to leave due to family issues or illness.

I feel like teachers who quit in the middle of the year begin to think of school the way a student will – a place, much like prison, where you’re forced to attend every day and do the same things over and over, days on end. At least, this is what I will sometimes think about school. It probably gets so bad they no longer enjoy returning home; their home starts to reminds them of grading homework, tests and answering endless emails. As you can imagine, I wouldn’t want to be a teacher.

Despite all these feelings that might revolve around a downbeat teacher, I still feel like they owe the students they teach a full year of continual teaching. After leaving their post, the classrooms they used to teach now feels foreign, and the new teacher/long term sub never does nearly as good of a job as the previous teacher who quit. On top of that, the new sub always end up getting confused on what to do, which can drag a student down with their homework and the end-of-year final exams.

That being said, there are a few exceptions to this idea. For example, if a teacher takes an extended absence because either they or their loved ones get very sick, obviously there’s nothing that can be done about that.

I had a great English teacher, Henry Bostwick, who decided to leave his post just right before Thanksgiving break this year due to family issues. Apparently, his parents received unfair treatment, so now he’s moving on to become a lawyer to defend their rights. The substitute that replaced him is good, however I don’t think there’s any teacher who can beat Bostwick.

I consider this to be an acceptable excuse to leave mid-year because it wasn’t really his choice to leave the school – he was forced to.

For the teachers who want to quit because they think of school like a prison, I recommend you try to connect with your students more.

The most memorable teachers I’ve ever had made their classrooms into an entertaining, familiar environment, and all the students were able to connect to the teacher. These teachers also seemed to be the happiest, most cheerful ones; they certainly didn’t seem like quitting their job anytime soon.

Teachers have a commitment to teach their students for a whole year, and quitting in the middle is the same as leaving a job half-done. Please consider what will happen to your students if you leave mid-year.